TT 515 
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DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR 
WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS 



BY 

MAY ALLINSON, A. M. 



'm 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
1916 



A 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR 
WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS 



BY 

MAY ALLINSON, A. M. 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
1916 









Gill 

rzitj 
DEC 14 **'» 






R 






U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 



ROYAL MEEKER, Commissioner 



BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES) (WHOLE 

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS J * ' ' \ NUMBER 



193 



WOMEN IN INDUSTRY SERIES: NO. 9 

DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR 
WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS 

MAY ALLINSON, Ph. D. 




SEPTEMBER, 1916 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1916 



ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM 

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n- 10 do- 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 
Introduction 5_9 

Chapter I. — Evolution of the trade in the United States 11-21 

Chapter II. — The dressmaking trade of to-day 23-52 

1. The family dressmaker 29 

2. The journeyman dressmaker 29, 30 

3. The private dressmaker 31-33 

4. The dressmaker of the transition stage 33-37 

5. The dressmaker of the shop of specialized workers 37-42 

6. The commercial dressmaker 42-49 

7. The manufacturing dressmaker 49-52 

Chapter III. — Industrial conditions in the trade 53-81 

Business administration 53, 54 

The problem of capital 54-61 

The problem of competition 61-64 

The labor force 64-81 

Chapter IV. — Irregularity of employment 83-111 

The seasons 83-93 

The workers' season 93-106 

Instability of the labor force 106-11 1 

Chapter V. — Overtime in the dressmaking trade 113-12 . 

Chapter VI. — Wages and earnings in Boston 127-146 

Chapter VII. — Teaching the trade 147-159 

Chapter VIII. — Summary and outlook 161-165 

Bibliography 167-175 

3 



This study was begun in the fall of 1909 by the 
author as a fellow in the Department of Research of 
the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of 
Boston in cooperation with the Boston Trade School 
for Girls and was completed by her while assistant 
and associate director of the department. It has been 
accepted as a thesis by the faculty of political science 
of Columbia University in partial fulfillment of the 
requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy. 
The work was done under the general direction of 
Dr. Susan M. Kingsbury, director of the Department 
of Research. 



BULLETIN OF THE 
U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

'hole no. 193. WASHINGTON. September, 1916. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN 
IN MASSACHUSETTS. 

BY MAY ALLINSON, PH. D. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The occupation of dressmaker ranked third in the United States in 
1900 in the number of women employed, 338,144 women 16 years of 
age and over being engaged in it. 1 Only two occupations — that of 
servant and waitress and that of agricultural laborer — surpassed it in 
the number of women employed, but in none did women form a larger 
proportion of the total employees. Because of the numbers the trade 
employs, because it is woman's traditional occupation, and because it 
provides opportunities for development, training for the dressmaking 
trade has held a large and a logical place in the curriculum of voca- 
tional schools for girls. The growth of the movement for industrial 
education and for vocational guidance has called for a thorough 
knowledge of the various industries. Especially is this important in 
the case of those trades which have been recognized as in some degree 
desirable, and for which the trade schools have attempted to prepare 
young workers. Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of the girls who 
went out from the three Massachusetts trade schools in 1914 had been 
trained for the dressmaking trade. 

Dressmaking is a difficult trade subject for the casual and superfi- 
cial observer to grasp, because of the variety of types of shops and 
methods of production which it presents. Dressmakers who go out 
by the day, small shops, large shops, factories of various types, give 
the superficial impression that every shop is different. Primitive and 
highly developed systems exist side by side, yet careful study shows 
that all may be classified within some six groups, each having a char- 
acteristic method of production. The student of census figures may 
be convinced that custom dressmaking is a declining trade and ques- 
tion if educators are justified in training young workers for this occu- 
pation. But in the development and growth of the large shop and 
the opportunity open to the day worker in the home, the investigator 

1 Special Reports of the Census Office, 1900. Statistics of Women at Work, p. 70. A total of 344,794 
women was reported for 1900 and 343,161 for 1910. See Thirteenth Census of United States, 1910. Occupa- 
tion Statistics, p. 56. 

5 



6 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

discovers tendencies not shown by the census, since it has abandoned 
statistics of the hand trades. 

The seasonal fluctuations of dressmaking and the consequent irreg- 
ularity of employment have been causes for worry and doubt to those 
intrusted with the direction of the young prospective worker. If, 
however, we study the returns of the United States census, we are 
able to find practically no industries which do not have slack seasons 
and times of pressure. Again, some of those trades which offer the 
greatest prospects are the most seasonal trades. Custom dressmaking 
and millinery, the most seasonal of all trades, show opportunities for 
self-development and financial advancement discovered in few other 
industries open to the woman of limited education. The question is 
not, then, "Should girls avoid or should they go into these trades?" 
but rather, ''How can those features which complicate and hinder 
opportunity for advancement be met or eliminated ? ' ' 

"It is impracticable to stop the fluctuations in demand," wrote 
the Webbs in 1911. "But here, also, it is not necessary that the 
fluctuations should be permitted to work havoc with the workers' 
lives. * * * Though there is a slack season in nearly all trades, 
this occurs at different parts of the year. * * * The seasona 
alternations of overpressure and slackness to which so many workers 
are subjected, with such evil results, are due only to failures of adjust- 
ment. Now, it is not suggested that there is any way by which the 
local and temporary supply of each particular kind of labor can be 
precisely adjusted to the local and temporary demand for it. But it 
is clear that if only we put a little more deliberate organization into 
the matter a great deal could be done to avert the worst of the 
calamities." * 

Comparison with other industries shows that, whatever may be its 
disadvantages, and though undergoing a marked decline, dress- 
making still remains one of the desirable occupations for women in 
the industrial world. 

A conference interested in the promotion of industrial education 
has defined a skilled occupation as one which meets three conditions : 
(1) Provision of a living wage for the worker; (2) a content which 
offers the possibility of differences in the quality of work turned 
out; (3) provision for promotion, through a series of progressive 
steps in the industry leading to something better. 2 Dressmaking 
meets these tests fairly well. While no woman-employing indus- 
try has been discovered in which the majority of workers earn 
a living wage, dressmaking ranks among the best in this respect. 
Since the fundamental and underlying principle of women's dress is 
variety, the dressmaking trade is one of the least standardized in 

i The Prevention of Destitution, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. London, 1911, p. 126. 
The Survey, Vol. XXXI, No. 17 (1914), p. 496. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 7 

process and product. Opportunity for promotion is unique in a cus- 
tom trade where originality of thought and of design and artistic sense 
determine its very existence. Naturally few possess these qualities, 
which are not common to the masses, but increased opportunities for 
training would doubtless enable more to develop latent possibilities 
and to bridge the gap from the manual skilled processes to those 
requiring artistic ability. 

Dressmaking is distinctly a domestic trade, only recently dis- 
turbed and stimulated by the modern industrial system. Thus, 
while geographically a universal occupation, its greatest develop- 
ment and largest opportunities appear only in large centers where 
the social and economic demand necessitates large scale develop- 
ment and business efficiency. Since the personnel is primarily 
feminine and the trade but recently emerging from its primitive 
domestic character, there is little development in business admin- 
istration, practically no organization or community of action on 
the part of either the employers or workers for the protection of 
their particular interests, and but little official regulation or super- 
vision. 

Because of its tardy industrial development, custom dressmaking 
has received little attention from economists and statisticians. The 
standpoint of the former is expressed by Miss Abbott: " Although 
the ' sewing trades ' are too important numerically from the point of 
view of the employment of women to be entirely neglected, their his- 
tory can be given here only in outline * * * partly because of the 
fact that the employment of women in the making of clothing is less 
interesting than in the other industries which have been discussed. 
Sewing, needlework of any kind except, perhaps, the making of 
men's garments, has always been regarded as within women's 
'peculiar sphere,' and the point of interest is, therefore, not that 
so many women are employed in the sewing trade, but that so 
many men have come into the industry as their competitors." 1 

The United States Census Office, after several attempts to secure 
statistics for the hand trades, abandoned the attempt "in view of the 
demonstrated inaccuracy of a hand-trade census and the impossibility 
of making it otherwise than inaccurate." 2 The census of occupa- 
tions, made by the United States every ten years and that made by 
the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics every intervening five years, 
give some statistics relative to numbers, nativity, and age secured 
in the population census. 

From the industrial standpoint, no official statistics relative to 
numbers employed, seasons, and wages have been given since 1900, 
nor are they to be given in future censuses. Such statistics, when 

» Women in Industry, by Edith Abbott, p. 215. 

a United States Census, 1900. Manufactures, Vol. I, p. xl. 



8 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

given, are inadequate for such an intimate acquaintance as is essen- 
tial to the vocational educator or the placement agent. Those in 
charge of the direction of workers and prospective workers must 
know types of shops, method of production in each, processes avail- 
able to young workers of limited experience, opportunities for ad- 
vancement, the wages in relation to training and length of experi- 
ence, types of girls who can avail themselves of the opportunities 
offered, the time of employment, length of working season as affected 
by experience and skill, conditions in the trade which explain the 
instability of labor or give suggestions for lessening it, and the trend 
of the industry itself. 

This investigation was begun in the fall of 1909 by the writer as a 
fellow in the department of research of the Women's Educational 
and Industrial Union of Boston in cooperation with the Boston 
Trade School for Girls. The investigator agreed to visit all graduates 
of the dressmaking course who were in the trade, for information 
concerning their trade career and for suggestions which might be 
helpful to the school in formulating its program. Eighty-four were 
discovered and visited who had been graduated before the fall of 
1909. In all, 200 women workers and 100 employers of various 
types were interviewed in Boston concerning processes of the trade, 
means of learning these processes, the various occupations, requisite 
qualifications, length of time necessary to acquire these, the wage 
paid for the various kinds of work, the seasons and their significance 
to the different types of workers; in addition, the means and oppor- 
tunity for supplementing their primary trade, and the home condi- 
tions and responsibilities of the workers were also considered. In 
1910 a study was made. by the department of research for the Mas- 
sachusetts State Board of Education of the ''Industrial opportuni- 
ties in Worcester, Cambridge, and Somerville," and statistics 
collected during the study of the dressmaking shops in these cities 
were incorporated in this report. 

In 1911 Miss Jennie Clement, a Simmons student who lived in 
Lowell, volunteered to make a survey of the trade in that city under 
the direction of the writer, and these returns also were incorporated 
in this report. Because the city directory and statistics of occupa- 
tion massed together without distinction dressmakers of every 
degree of skill, shop, factory, and home workers, and employers and 
employees, an attempt was made to secure a general survey of each 
city as a whole and to determine the opportunities open to the 
worker who has learned her trade and proposes to follow it seriously. 
The results are reported in the following chapters. 

After all this information was collected it was felt that the data 
concerning wages, actual earnings, and seasons were inadequate, 
and that to obtain satisfactory information on these subjects pay 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 9 

rolls must be studied. The investigator explained the situation 
to employers, and pay rolls were secured from 14 custom shops of 
varied types, covering 735 workers, and from two dressmaking fac- 
tories, covering 522 workers. These were the only factories turning 
out a product comparable to that of the custom shops. While the 
information thus secured concerning seasons agreed to a surprising 
degree with the returns of the United States census in 1900, the 
wage statistics secured were unique and original, and made it pos- 
sible for the first time to know the actual wage possibilities of a large 
number of workers in this trade. Some totally unexpected statistics 
relative to overtime, instability of labor, and the significance to the 
small employer of small capital and long credit also threw light on 
some of the most important problems of the trade. 

The information gathered has been presented in considerable de- 
tail, with the hope that the statistical information gathered for the 
first and only time in this trade might be of service to employers, 
workers, educators, placement agents, and customers, all of whom 
may through increased knowledge do their share toward the solu- 
tion of the problems presented. 



CHAPTER 1. 

EVOLUTION OF THE TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The women's clothing trade is unique among the industries of the 
twentieth century in its resistance to monopoly of wholesale manu- 
facture, and is one of the few present-day industries which shows all 
stages of industrial evolution from a simple to a highly industrialized 
system existing side by side. Woman's insistence on individuality 
of style on the one side, and the large place occupied by women as 
producers on the other, have hindered and delayed large scale pro- 
duction, but the opening of the twentieth century shows that even 
this industry is being caught up in the current of centralized and 
large scale manufacturing. Still the five stages of chronological 
evolution observed in industry as a whole can be traced in the growth 
of an occasional small dressmaking shop of a couple of decades past 
into a great commercialized shop of to-day and can also be observed 
in the various types of shops about us. 

These different systems of production typifying five different stages 
of evolution may be called (1) the family system, observed in home 
dressmaking; (2) the help or hire system, seen in the dressmaker who 
goes out by the day to the home of the customer; (3) the custom 
system, as seen in the "mistress dressmaker" who conducts a shop 
to which her customers come to have their work done; (4) the com- 
mercialized system, exemplified in women's furnishing stores, which 
combine a sales and a custom dressmaking department, and (5) the 
manufacturing system for retail and for wholesale trade. A brief 
sketch of this evolution through the three centuries of American 
history may provide a helpful background for a study of the present- 
day development. 

In the American colonies, naturally, the earliest or family stage of 
industry, where "production was earned on within the family, by 
the family, and for the family," 1 predominated and still exists to a 
large degree in the rural parts of the United States. Before the mid- 
dle of the seventeenth century the second stage, the help or hire sys- 
tem, developed, by which the independent workman (usually a man) 
went from place to place offering his services and performing the work 
in the home of his customer. 2 Before the end of the century the third 

1 Principles of Economics, by E. R. A. Seligman, p. 88. 

2 A Simple Cobbler of Agawam, by Nathaniel Ward, p. 28; An Account of Pennsylvania and Virginia, 
by Gabriel Thomas, p. 41; Connecticut Colonial Records, Vol. II, p. 283. 

11 



12 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

stage, the custom system, appeared, under which the independent 
worker established himself and made garments in his own shop at the 
order of a special customer. But it was not until the eighteenth 
century that seamstresses appeared to any extent beside the journey- 
man tailor, and the mistress dressmaker owned a shop side by side 
with the master tailor. The fourth stage, the commercialized system, 
was exemplified in the dealers who imported clothing from Europe or 
manufactured it in their own shop, and their advertisements occu- 
pied a large place in the local newspapers of the eighteenth century. 
The early nineteenth century saw the rapid development of this 
stage of this industry. Men and occasionally women became im- 
porters of European models which were exhibited to local dress- 
makers. The second half of the nineteenth century brought the 
manufacturing system, which has taken over every kind of clothing 
in the past few decades. The highest point reached thus far is in the 
ready-to-wear garment, a competitor of and a compromise between 
custom and ready-made wear. Ready-to-wear clothing is "stock," 
single, exclusive patterns, made up by the large fashionable custom 
dressmakers in advance of the specific order of a customer, offering 
an individuality of style which is lacking in the ready-made garment 
in its many duplications and its various sizes and materials. 

No wealth of material exists to show the characteristics of each 
successive phase of industrial activity, and especially is this true of 
the needle trades. Colonial records, papers, correspondence, arch- 
ives have been diligently searched for historical pictures of the 
producers of women's wear, with results which show that certain 
characteristics are common to the trade regardless of difference in 
time and place. 1 

At the beginning of colonial times, as has been said, dressmaking 
was conducted mainly under the household system, the women of 
each family making the clothes it needed. Naturally the bound or 
indentured servants, when there were such, shared in this labor, or 
perhaps had entire charge of it. Advertisements may be found in 
old newspapers dwelling on the ability as seamstresses of negro slaves 
offered for sale. Indentured servants and slaves, however, really 
formed part of the household, and their labors can not be regarded as 
a beginning of the hire system. 

It is not possible to say when the second system, under which the 
worker goes out for hire, appeared in the colonies, but if we may 
judge by the practice of frontier communities to-day, it must have 
been at a very early date. The natural tendency is for a woman 
who can sew to turn her ability to account among her neighbors. 
In early days, however, this tendency was limited by the multi- 
tudinous employments which kept women busy within their own 

' A bibliography and list of documents searched will be found on pp. 169 to 172. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 13 

homes. The unattached woman seems to have been rare. As 
late as 1698 Gabriel Thomas remarks that there were no "old maids 
to be met with, * * * for all commonly marry before thej^ are 
20 years of age." 1 Forty-two years earlier another writer had 
observed that ''loose persons," i. e., those free to dispose of their 
services as they pleased, "seldom live long unmarried if free." 2 

This relative scarcity of women or the fact that home dressmaking 
was largely done by servants and slaves may have been one reason why 
commercial dressmaking was" largely in the hands of men. During 
the entire seventeenth century men tailors seem to have predominated 
in the commercialized sewing trades, for they are frequently mentioned 
by various writers, while women, when mentioned at all in this con- 
nection, are reported as scarce. 

Before the end of the century dressmakers had reached the third 
stage, that of conducting a shop to which customers come to have 
work done, and by 1679 there was at least one instance of the fourth 
system, the women's furnishings stores which combine a sales 
department with custom dressmaking. In that year Wilham 
Sweatland was conducting such a store at Salem, selling furnishings 
and making clothes for men, women, and children. There is still 
extant a bill of his against Jonathan Corwin, from which it appears 
that making and altering women 's and children's garments formed an 
important part of liis trade. 3 

Although women had apparently not reached this fourth stage 
during the seventeenth century, they had evident^ 7 attained the 
third, for in 1699 Jane Latham, ''Seamstress and Manto Maker," 
wife of Joseph Latham, of New York, and Catharine White, ' ' Tailor 
Woman," wife of Peter White, joyner, of the same State, were 
each doing enough business to take on a young apprentice to whom 
they contracted to teach the trade. 4 Taking apprentices presup- 
poses the maintenance of a shop, as there is no record of dressmakers 
going out by the day and taking assistants with them. 

Thus, by 1700, the first four systems under which dressmaking 
is carried on were in existence side by side in the colonies, though 
the first and second systems were probably very much in the lead. 
Throughout the seventeenth century the colonists, in addition to 
the clothes made by their own dressmakers and tailors, were receiv- 
ing importations from abroad, especially from England. The 
writings of the times contain frequent references to the arrival of 
ships bearing, among other things, garments and finery for men and 
women alike. 

i An Account of Pennsylvania and West New Jersey (1698), by Gabriel Thomas, pp. 45-51. 
J Leah and Rachel (1656), by Hammond, p. 15. 

3 See Weeden's Economic and Social History of New England, p. 2S7, where a copy of (his bill, covering 
the period from Sept. 29, 1679, to Feb. 26, 1681, is given. 
* New York Historical Society Collections, 18S5, pp. 582, 583. 



14 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

During the eighteenth century changes in the dressmaking trade 
were more in the nature of shifting the emphasis on certain aspects 
than of introducing new features. The four systems continued to 
coexist. The household system does not appear to have diminished 
in importance, and the papers contain frequent advertisements for 
household servants who could combine sewing with the performance 
of their domestic duties. The help or hire system was also main- 
tained, and a transition stage between this and the custom-shop 
system is shown by "Elizabeth Sanders Porter, Mantua-Maker from 
Boston," who "begs leave to inform the Ladies of this Town 
(Essex) that she makes Gowns, Hats, Cloaks and Riding Habits 
in the best and neatest Manner, at her own Home or at the Ladies' 
Houses." 1 

Shops carried on under the third and fourth systems became 
increasingly numerous and important, and more and more com- 
monly women were found at their head. The first half of the century 
was marked by closer relations with Europe and by greater pros- 
perity than had prevailed before. The increasing wealth of the 
colonies and their growing commerce tended to introduce European 
standards of dress, while the coming of royal governors and the 
establishment of official social life in the cities gave an added impetus 
to the movement. English dressmakers, tailors, and staymakers 
came over to find their prosperity in meeting the growing demand 
for rich and fashionable garments, and though men preceded the 
women, the latter soon became prominent as mistress dressmakers. 
From this position they soon developed into merchant dressmakers 
selling the completed garment made from materials, chosen by 
samples, manufactured at home or imported. Before the close of 
the first half of the eighteenth century, women appear as full-fledged 
merchant dressmakers, importers, and merchants of women's cloth- 
ing. A Boston newspaper in 1733 announced: "To be seen at Mrs. 
Hannah Teatts, Mantua-maker at the head of Summer St., Boston, 
a Baby drest after the Newest Fashion of Mantues and Night Gowns 
and every thing belonging to a dress, lately arrived in Capt. White, 
from London, any Ladies that desire to see it may either come or 
send and she will be ready to wait on 'em, if they come to the House 
it is Five Shillings, and if she waits on them it is Seven Shillings." 2 
Thus, there existed in the early eighteenth century, some of the most 
modern present-day features of the custom dressmaking trade — a 
mistress custom dressmaker, an importer of European models, 
carrying a varied stock of "Mantues, Night Gowns and every thing 
belonging to a dress," which she was prepared to display either in 
her shop or in the home of her customers. 

i Essex Gazette, Aug. 14-21, 1770. 2 New England Weekly Journal, July 2, 1733. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 15 

During the latter half of the eighteenth century the woman mer- 
chant dressmaker assumed a more prominent place among the 
importers of goods and clothing. Jane Eustis hi 1756 had developed 
all the characteristics of the modern commercialized custom shop. 
In 1756 she dissolved her "copartnership" with Mary Purcell and 
opened a shop "next door to Mi'. Kent's office, opposite the north side 
of the Town House," where she "sold for the lowest rates for cash 
. . . Hoops, stays . . . stomachers . . . bonnets, hair hats, Padu- 
soy cloaks . . . umbrilles . . . Men's, Women's, and Children's hose 
. . . women's black silk kid and lamb gloves and mittens. N. B. 
Said Eustis makes in the neatest and newest fashion Capuchines, 
Cardinals, Hatts, Bonnets and Pallances, etc., etc." * Ten years 
later, 1766, in the same shop she had just "imported . . . from Lon- 
don" and was selling "for cash at her shop opposite the North Side 
of the Town-House, Boston . . . Brown and black Padusoys . . . 
Ducapes, pink and brown Mantuas, white and buff ground Brocades 
. . . quilted petticoats . . . Lady's habit . . . brocaded shoes and 
clogs . . . black and coloured bonnets and jockeys, plumes for ditto 
. . . silver and silk trimmings for gowns . . . chip hats and bonnets 
. . . with a great variety of Haberdashery and Millinery, too many 
to be ennumerated." 2 

By 1756 this woman of the American colonies had developed her 
custom dressmaking and millinery establishment to a commercialized 
shop where she sold imported ready-made wear beside her own manu- 
factures. But in 1766 Jane Eustis made no mention of custom or 
order work. If this omission indicates that this phase of her business 
had sunk into insignificance beside the more profitable sales depart- 
ment, the similarity to modern conditions and tendencies becomes 
almost complete. 

The importation of clothing from abroad continued throughout the 
century, although naturally it was greatly diminished during the 
Revolution. After the break with England, and indeed for some 
time before it, such importations were attacked on the ground that 
patriotism demanded the use of home products. It is impossible to 
say to what extent this attitude affected the dressmakers.. Adver- 
tisements of dresses and dress materials from England and France 
continued to appear in the city papers, but in 1790 Hamilton claimed 
"in a number of districts that two-thirds, three-fourths, and even four- 
fifths of all the clothing of the inhabitants are made by themselves." 3 
Outside of the larger cities dressmaking had developed very little 
beyond the first two systems, while the third and fourth probably 
appeared very little, if at all. 

i Boston News Letter, June 24, 1756. 3 American State Papers. Finance, vol. 1, p. 132. 

2 Boston Gazette, Feb. 17, Dec. 8, 1766. 



16 BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

In the nineteenth century, the women's clothing trade, still retain- 
ing all its primitive stages, developed the characteristics of "la grande 
industrie." There was still the " young lady [who] wishes a situation 
in a private family where she can do sewing, or assist in the domestic 
concerns to pay for her board," * "a Young woman from England 
[who] wishes to engage herself in a genteel family to do needlework," 2 
and "a Lady possessing unusual taste and skill, and experience in 
fitting and making all kinds of Ladies' and Little Boys' and Girls' 
Garments, [who] would like to work for a few families in Charles town 
or vicinity." 3 Beside these appeared the master tailor and mistress 
dressmaker, employers of labor. To what extent tailors and dress- 
makers employed help before the Revolution it seems difficult to 
determine, but undoubtedly the evolution of the larger shop during 
the eighteenth century increased the demand, and the recruiting of 
workers through advertisements in the newspapers, the usual method 
to-day, became apparent at the opening of the nineteenth century. 
For example, "M. Boyles, Mantua-maker from London," advertised 
for "Two young women, wanted as apprentices," in Boston in 1799. 4 
As her advertisement ran in the paper for four weeks, the applicants 
were apparently no more numerous or desirable than at present. In 
1800 there was "wanted at the Tailoring Business a smart young 
Woman 18 or 20 years of age," 5 and in 1828 "Six first-rate tailoresses 
to whom steady employ and the highest wages will be given 
were wanted immediately." 6 M. Gillespie, dressmaker, "wanted 
immediately [in 1827] several persons as apprentices." 7 

The fourth stage of the dressmaking industry, the merchant dress- 
maker and milliner, is typified by "Eliza Bancroft [who] Respectfully 
informs her Friends and the Public that she has received a fresh 
supply of Fancy Goods Suitable for the Season — among which are 
black and white cambrics, black silk shawls . . . silk for Bonnets, 
and Gowns . . . She continues the Mantua Making and Millinery 
Business in the newest fashions." 8 Thus, before the War of 1812 
there was developed the prototype of the modern woman's furnishings 
houses, which combine under one business management the three 
departments: (1) The sales department of materials and furnishings 
for women's clothing; (2) custom dressmaking; and (3) millinery. 

Although the development on a large scale of the big furnishing 
houses with their millinery and dressmaking departments and the neces- 
sary capital gave the supremacy to men as "better prepared for rea- 

1 Boston Daily Advertiser, Mar. 24, 1813. 

2 Independent Chronicle, July 23, 1800. 

3 Bunker Hill Aurora, May 6, 1865. 

* Boston Commercial Gazette, June 10, 17, 24, July 1, 1799. 

6 Columbus Centinel, Mar. 5, 1800. 

e [Boston] Evening Gazette, Mar. 15, 1S28. 

'Ibid., Sept. 15, 1827. 

6 National Aegis, Apr. 8, 1812. 



DRESSMAKIXG AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 17 

soning and calculations," 1 the woman European importer, wholesale 
dealer, and merchant dressmaker appeared in Boston before the 
middle of the nineteenth century. 

A woman merchant dressmaker and importer of European models 
was established in Boston by 1840, who arranged "openings" for the 
display of the latest styles and models to the dressmakers of the sur- 
rounding country, thus exhibiting a prototype of the movement for 
"democratization" of styles in America, which is now centered 
almost exclusively in New York City and has practically disappeared 
from Boston. 

Women conducted stores which carried a stock of materials and of 
clothing, not only in the large ports but in many surrounding cities- 
Grace Smith in Norfolk, 2 Mrs. Clapp "at the Noted Store" in Ded- 
ham, 3 "Mrs. Charlotte H.White . . . [who] . . . has opened a shop in 
the dwelling House of Deacon Tilly Flint" in Rutland, 4 advertised "a 
general assortment of English goods." Imports in the large cities 
increased in value, and merchants in Boston offered for sale "a com- 
plete assortment of new and fashionable Goods . . . Rich ball dresses, 
Lace dresses, Embroidered French cambric and sheer muslin dresses, 
India Muslin dresses, Mantles, Silk, and gold dotted muslin for dresses 
. . . 5 a few splendid French embroidered Muslin and Cambrick 
Dresses, worth from 35 to 55 dollars. These being lately imported, 
are the most modern style and truly elegant." 6 Stephen Rhoads, 
in November, 1827, had received by the London Packet, "1 case of 
Ladies Imperial Pelerines, Sable, and Ermine, a very rich article." 7 

The influx of European goods and increasing luxury in the first 
half of the nineteenth century had, however, met opposition from 
many quarters. The manufacturers and statesmen of New England 
in the early nineteenth century vigorously resisted European impor- 
tations of manufactured articles. The remedy urged was increasing 
taxation and the climax was reached in the tariff of 1828. 

Apart from the political agitation, many opposed the trend toward 
extravagance, and especially as manifested in the introduction of 
European clothes and ornaments and the submission to European 
fashions, on grounds of duty, morality, and patriotism. There is 
little evidence that this opposition produced any particular effect. 

The last half of the nineteenth century contributed the final phases 
of development in the women's clothing trade — the wholesale manu- 
facture of women's machine-made clothing with the resultant so- 
called sweating system, and the custom ready-to-wear garments. 

i France, Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vehement a Paris, 1896, p. 395. 

2 Norfolk Repository, May 28, 1805. 

s Ibid., June 4, 1805. 

* National Aegis, July 3, 1805. 

a The Evening Gazette, Jan. 6, 1827. 

eibid., Oct. 6, 1827. 

7 The Evening Gazette, Nov. 13, 1827, Oct'. 20, 1827, Aug. 2, 1828. 

29885°— Bull. 193— 1G— 2 



18 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

Thus by the end of the century all stages of development existed side 
by side. The large commercialized shop and department store of the 
latter part of the nineteenth century represent a stage of evolution in 
degree purely. They existed in the eighteenth century. They in- 
creased in size, amount of capital invested, and stock carried, in the 
nineteenth century. But the last stage of development, wholesale 
manufacture, originated and developed rapidly in the latter half of 
the nineteenth century. Wholesale manufacture of men's clothing 
existed to some extent in the first half of the century. The manufac- 
ture of women's clothing on a large scale in advance of the orders of 
prospective buyers involved a more difficult problem. A most serious 
obstacle to making up large quantities of women's clothing in vary- 
ing sizes and in like and in different materials after a single model 
appeared from the beginning. Two factors, which M. du Maroussem 
calls "la coquetterie feminine," x complicated the development — the 
attitude of the clientele, which insists that no two gowns shall 
be alike, necessitating infinite variations, and the desire for an 
adaptation of the fashion, style, and material of a garment to the 
particular form and personal characteristics of the individual woman. 
This individualization, which constitutes the radical contrast between 
masculine and feminine dress, was still further complicated by the 
rapidly changing styles in women's clothing. Each client required 
a garment adapted peculiarly to herself, but it must conform in its 
general lines to the exigencies of the general fashion, which in turn 
are uncertain because dependent on "the universal suffrage of the 
ladies of fashion." "How then," says M. du Maroussem, "in view 
of this unconquerable economic demand, manufacture large stocks in 
advance, as is the custom established in the manufacture of men's 
ready-made clothing? The process must be transformed." The 
promoters of the new idea sought to separate the common elements, 
to some extent, from the most diversified styles, and apply to them, 
as an invariable basis of the system, the anticipated fashion. 2 The 
promulgation of the styles is effected through two mediums : The cre- 
ation of models in picture form, which are spread broadcast through 
special fashion publications, and the creation of models in the actual 
form of costumes made in advance and sold with the purpose of mak- 
ing reproductions and variations from them. Paris controls this phase 
of the trade. The United States has always looked to western Europe 
for initiative in style of dress. Certain large houses in some of the 
largest American cities create "Americanized styles" and models, 
but always in accordance with the decrees laid down by Paris leaders. 

1 France, Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetement a Paris, p. 393 et seq. See also 
Le Development de la Fabrique et le travail a domicile dans les Industries de l'Habillement, par A. 
Alftalion. Paris, 1906. 

2 See discussion by M. du Maroussem. France, Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le 
Vetement a Paris, p. 393 et seq. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 19 

The development of the "ready-made," using the word in its ver- 
nacular sense, was a matter of some four decades. Ready-made wear 
had been imported from Europe in colonial times, but wholesale readj^- 
made clothing produced in large quantities in many sizes and varie- 
ties of materials showed a comparatively slow evolution. No at- 
tempt was made at first to invade the sphere of the fitted garment. 
With the introduction of the sewing machine in 1850, however, ready- 
made clothing soon took rapid strides in the looser and more masculine 
type of wear, such as outside cloaks, coats, and mantillas, as well as 
in corsets and similar furnishing goods, hoop skirts, and millinery. 

The census of 1860 reported— " This branch of the domestic cloth- 
ing trade, which thus employs nearly half a million dollars in capital, 
and with the labor of less than 1,600 hands, produced upwards of two 
and a quarter million dollars' worth of cloaks and mantillas annually, 
is one of quite recent growth, and has received its principal develop- 
ment within the ten or fifteen years preceding the last census. The 
manufacture has its principal seat in New York, which has 15 large 
establishments, one of which employs 100 girls and makes goods to 
the value of $120,000 per annum. Two others employ 70 and 40 
hands, respectively, and make each about $100,000 worth. The whole 
value of cloaks and mantillas made in that city in 1860 was $618,400. 
A large manufacturer in that city who commenced business in 1849 
was the first to introduce sewing machines in the business, as well as 
the first to employ young women in the retail sales department. The 
largest establishment in Boston also employs 100 females and makes 
$150,000 worth of ladies' cloaks and mantillas annually, while two 
others in that city employ each about 75 hands, and manufacture 
to the value of $125,000 each. All but $13,000 of the product in 
Massachusetts was made by 10 factories in Boston." x 

During the four decades from 1860 to 1900 the ready-made-garment 
manufacturers invaded every branch of the women's clothing trade. 
Increasing development of skill and perfection of machinery and work- 
manship have made possible the manufacture of close-fitting gar- 
ments. The development of popular taste and demand through the 
show windows and salesrooms of retail dealers has justified the man- 
ufacture of great quantities of stock. The decreased cost of the 
ready-made has resulted in its world-wide adoption. In the early 
eighties the manufacturers began making ladies' suits, in the nineties 
lingerie, soon to be followed by shirt waists, fancy waists, skirts, gowns 
of all sorts and materials, and finally neckwear on a large scale. 

With increasing perfection and popularity of the ready-made, there 
has appeared a new phase in the development of the trade — the ready- 
to-wear, which represents the last resort of custom dressmakers and 

1 United States Census, 1860. Manufactures, p. Ixxxiii. 



20 BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 

tailors to combat the ready-made. Exclusive large custom houses 
still refuse to recognize or carry the ready-made, but they are attempt- 
ing to cater to public demand for the completed gown or garments at 
short notice by making up stock in advance. " Ready-to-wear," said 
a member of such a firm, "is a single gown made up on a single ex- 
clusive pattern in advance of the specific order of a customer, but 
offering an individuality and exclusiveness of style in the finished 
product which the ready-made in its many duplications in various 
sizes can not do." This development has brought in its wake two 
most important results — first, the partial abolition of the necessity 
for late rush orders, as the customer can often find ready for use a 
gown suitable for her needs; and second, the partial alleviation of 
the slack season, as the workers fill in the time in which they are not 
busy with orders of customers by making up "stock." This ready- 
to-wear is offered for sale to customers wishing gowns on short notice, 
or preferring the finished product to the waste of time and energy 
and the uncertainty of satisfactory results sometimes experienced in 
custom work. 

The attempt to cater to all the various needs of the clientele is 
resulting in many combinations, either of the two branches, custom 
and ready-to-wear, or of the three branches, custom, ready-to-wear, 
and ready-made. Many a custom tailor or dressmaker of a few 
decades ago has now been transformed into the head. of a large estab- 
lishment or has formed a partnership or corporation combining the 
two or three branches of the trade. Meanwhile the increasing tendency 
toward centralization and the competition of two powerful factors — 
the manufacturing and the combination establishments with their large 
capital and unlimited credit — have rapidly diminished the field of op- 
portunity for the small custom dressmaker. Sho is brought face to face 
with the three great problems of modern industry — competition, capi- 
tal, and the labor problem. The ready-made, with its increasingly fine 
product, good style, and low cost due to the manufacture of large 
quantities under a highly developed business system and administra- 
tion, encroaches on the field from the one side; the large combination 
establishments encroach on the other side in two ways, for first, with 
practically unlimited capital they are able to work on a large scale 
with the highest degree of business finesse, to employ time and 
labor saving machinery, and to secure experts, who, with their origi- 
nality and initiative, can give a certain characteristic exclusiveness 
in style and taste; second, because of the extensive scope of their 
business some of the more far-seeing firms so arrange their work as 
to eliminate to a large extent the seasonal aspect of the trade, thus 
attracting the workers and aggravating the labor problem for the 
small dressmaker. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOE WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 21 

Oil the other hand, there are certain important influences reacting 
in favor of custom work and of the small dressmaker. Custom work 
will probably alwa}^s retain its superiority of workmanship — i. e., fine 
handwork, accuracy, and fine finishing. It will also meet and solve 
most effectively the peculiar needs of the individual. For these two 
reasons every stage of custom work can still retain its position in the 
labor world. The dressmaker going "out by the day" obviates for 
herself the problem of large capital and irregular payment of cus- 
tomers and meets the needs of customers who still insist on custom 
work in lingerie, children's wear, house dresses, and even the more 
elaborate gowns. 

In spite of the problems enumerated above, the small dressmaker 
also has certain advantages which cause her competition to react on 
the large establishments. First, the ''democratization" of styles 
effected by the semiannual importation of Parisian models by large 
New York importers and their "openings," at which all the newest 
Parisian styles are displayed to their customers (dressmakers) from 
far and near, enables the smallest (within these limits) as well as the 
largest dressmaker to give to her customers the newest style. One 
of the members of an old and well-established firm considered this 
the greatest menace to the high-class establishments. Formerly, he 
said, only the large establishments who could send a representative 
abroad twice a year could give exclusive and original styles to their 
customers. Now the smallest dressmaker of ability and ingenuity 
is enabled to give exactly as good style at smaller cost because of 
her lower expenses. Second, the small dressmaker gives her own 
talent, taste, ingenuity, and originality to the making of her gowns 
with no financial expenditure for this service. The large firm pays 
one or more head women salaries ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 a 
year for this contribution, but the small dressmaker not only furnishes 
this herself but by personal supervision of the workroom effects 
greater economy of time and materials and the more interested coop- 
eration of her employees. The small dressmaker has a more stead} 7 " 
and regular clientele, enabling many of the more far-seeing ones to 
meet in a fairly satisfactory manner the seasonal problem. She is 
not expected nor does she attempt to maintain the standard of luxury 
and spaciousness of quarters, location of establishment, etc., required 
of the larger firms, with their resultant heavy expenditure. 

Thus a nice balance of opposing, interacting, and reacting forces 
still makes possible at the present day the existence side by side of 
all stages of the do tiling trade from the primitive to the most modern 
and scientifically developed. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE DRESSMAKING TRADE OF TO-DAY. 

The dressmaking trade of the twentieth century is developing along 
three diverging lines: (1) In the increasing growth of the large 
wholesale manufacturers at the expense of the custom trade; (2) in 
the development of the large custom shop and decline of the small; 
and (3) paradoxically, in the comparatively large place occupied by 
the home dressmaker and day worker. Directors of vocational edu- 
cation and guidance must, therefore, know the industrial trend and 
predominant types in the neighborhoods to which they cater to solve 
their problem satisfactorily. 

The manufacture of ready-made clothing has grown by leaps and 
bounds during the last two decades, increasing more than 100 per 
cent in practically every phase during the decade 1890 to 1900, and 
in some details to an even more phenomenal extent during the decade 
1900 to 1910. 

Table 1, immediately following, shows the development of the two 
branches, wholesale manufacturing and custom dressmaking, during 
the decade 1890-1900, while Table 2 shows the growth of the whole- 
sale manufacturing trade during the decade 1899-1909. 

Table 1— DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN'S CLOTHING TRADE, FACTORY PRODUCT AND 
CUSTOM DRESSMAKING, IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE DECADE 1890-1900.1 

[Based on United States Census, 1900, Vol. IX, Manufactures, Pt. Ill, p. 302] 



Item. 



Factory product. 



Per 

cent 
in- 
crease, 
1900 
over 
1890. 



Custom dressmaking. 



1890 



1900 



Per 

cent 
in- 
crease, 
1900 
over 
1890. 



Per 
cent 

de- 
crease, 

1900 
from 
1890. 



Number of establishments 

Capital 

Wage earners, average num- 
ber 

Men, 16 years and over. . . 

Women, 16 years and over. 

Children under 16 years. . . 
Total wages 

Men 

Women 

Children 

Cost of materials used 

Value of products 



1,224 
$21,259,528 



39, 
12, 

25, 

$15,428, 
$7,386, 
$7,994, 
$47, 
$34,277, 
$68,164, 



2,701 
$48,431,544 

83,739 

26, 109 

56, 866 

764 

$32, 586, 101 

$15, 790, 572 

$16, 075, 390 

$120, 139 

$84,704,592 

$159,339,539 



120.7 
127.8 

113.9 
101.4 
119.5 
179.9 
111.2 
113.8 
108.6 
155. 
147.1 
138. 8 



19, 587 
$12,883,097 



48, 613 

1,056 

47, 164 

393 

$13,145,734 

$616, 438 

$12,482,362 

$46,934 

$23,393,829 

$57,071,732 



14,479 
$13,815,221 



45, 595 
4,379 

40,835 
381 
352, 453 
943, 175 
363,083 
$45, 595 
503,754 
356,034 





26.1 


7.2 






6.2 


314.7 






13.4 




3.1 


9.2 




377.5 






9.0 




2.9 




29.5 




15.3 



1 Factory product covers all clothing manufactured for the wholesale trade; custom dressmaking deals 
With product made for retail orders. 
- Includes custom work and repairing. 

23 



24 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Table 2.— DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN'S CLOTH INC TRADE, FACTORY PRODUCT, IN 
THE UNITED STATES DURING THE DECADE 1899-1909.1 

[Based on the United States Census, 1910, Vol. VIII, Manufactures, p. 509.] 



Item. 



Number of establishments 

Capital 

Wage earners, average number. . . . 

Total wages 

Salaried employees, total number.. 

Total salaries. .' 

Cost of materials used 

Value of product 



2,701 

$48, 432, 000 

83 739 

$32, 580,' 000 

6,715 

$0,574,000 

$84,705,000 

S159,340,000 



$129 
$78 

$20 

$20S 
S3S-! 



4,558 
301,000 
153,743 
508,000 
IS, 790 
418,000 
788,000 
752,000 



Per 
cent 
in- 
crease, 
1909 
over 
1S99. 



(1S.8 

ior.0 

83.6 
141.1 
179.9 
210.0 
140.5 
111.5 



i In 1900 the chief statistician recommended the abandonment of all inquiries into hand trades because 
of the impossibility of securing accurate and complete returns and the high cost for dubious returns. 

In the manufacturing branch it is evident that the incroase in 
capital and wages during the second decade was greater than in the 
first, hut a corresponding increase does not appear in the number of 
establishments or workers. This indicates a process of consolidation 
and the development of the larger shop. The greater increase in 
wages than in number of wage earners indicates the employment of 
more highly skilled workers. This is also emphasized in the 179.9 
per cent increase in salaried officials and 210.6 per cent increase in 
total salaries paid. 

In the first decade while the manufacturing branch of the women's 
do tiling trade showed an increase of 120.7 per cent in the number of 
establishments, 113.9 per cent in average number of wage earners, 
147.1 per cent in cost of materials and 138.8 per cent in value of 
product, custom dressmaking decreased in all these phases of the 
trade. But while custom dressmaking lagged far behind in the race 
during this decade, the decrease in the number of establishments 
(26.1 per cent) was out of all proportion to the 6.2 per cent decline in 
the number of wage earners. During the same period the amount of 
capital increased 7.2 per cent and the total wages 9.2 per cent, all this 
indicating consolidation or the development of the large shop. 1 

The development and competition of the factory product has 
brought about a very uneven distribution of product between the 
factory and custom dressmaker. The census of 1910 describes 
women's clo tiling, factory product, as comprising "not only com- 
plete suits, but also dresses, skirts, petticoats, kimonos, dressing 
sacques, wrappers, jackets, cloaks, capes, underwear, infants' cloth- 
ing, shirt w'aists, finings, dress stays, belts, dress shields, and similar 
articles." 2 Custom dressmaking is, on the other hand, being in- 
creasingly liinited to only the high-class, exclusive product; fancy 

i See Table 1. • United States Census, 1910. Manufactures, Vol. VIII, p. 398. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 25 

house dresses, street suits, and fancy waists, which, because of indi- 
vidual style and exclusive patterns and materials, can compete with 
the cheaper ready-made product. 

Although the factory branch of the trade is largely centered in 
New York, the value of its product representing 70.8 per cent of the 
total output of the United States, 1 the clothing trade throughout the 
country feels the effect of its competition through the distribution of 
New York's product. 

This increase in the importance of the factory branch is bringing 
about new conditions and necessitating new adjustments within the 
custom branch of the trade. Four great problems — capital, compe- 
tition, scarcity of skilled labor, and seasonal fluctuation — must be 
met by shops of all types, and the degree to which they are or are not 
solved determines the survival of the type. Out of the struggle is 
emerging, on the one side, the large custom shop and, on the other, the 
domestic or day worker, with the resultant submergence of the small 
shop. 

The evolution of the large establishment in custom as in factory 
dressmaking has undoubtedly continued during the first decade of 
the twentieth century, though the lack of census statistics makes 
comparison impossible. Members of the trade, both in Boston and 
in other cities, almost unanimously testify to the increasing difficulty 
the small shop finds in competing on the one side with the large cus- 
tom establishments, with their prestige and almost unlimited capital, 
and on the other with the wholesale manufacturing establishments 
turning out a cheaper product. Many who formerly conducted a 
shop find it more profitable to work on a salary or go out by the day. 
A head dressmaker of a large, fashionable shop in Boston, receiving 
$50 a week, had for five or six years conducted a shop with a force of 
20 to 30 workers, but could not meet the problem of capital. A 
Worcester dressmaker who used to conduct a shop abandoned it 
because of the scarcity of good workers and now takes in only such 
work as she can do herself. Many of the smaller dressmakers are 
closing their shops because of the difficulty of competing with tho 
large custom and ready-made establishments and are going out by 
the day or taking only such work as they can do alone. 

The growth of the wholesale manufacture of women's clothing is 
dearly shown by the census, and the development of the large custom 
dressmaking shop, though not so easily proved, is evident. It is 
more difficult to ascertain the numbers and importance of dress- 
makers working in their own homes or going out by the day, yet 
there is reason to believe that these constitute a large proportion of 
the workers in the trade, except perhaps in large cities where dress- 
making is highly industrialized. Although the census gives no sta- 

1 Calculated from data from United States Census, 1910. Manufactures, Vol. VIII, pp. 574, 575. 



26 BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OP LABOR STATISTICS. 

tistics concerning these workers, a comparison of its data in two 
different reports may throw some light upon their numbers. In the 
special report on occupations of women (based on the population 
schedules) the number of dressmakers 16 years of age and over 
in the United States is given as 338, 144. 1 In the report on manu- 
factures for the same year (based on establishment schedules) the 
number of women aged 16 or over employed in custom dressmak- 
ing is given as 40,835; in addition, 908 salaried officials are given, 
and the number of establishments is placed at 14,479. 2 If it be 
assumed that each establishment had at least one proprietor, and 
if these be added to the salaried officials and others engaged in 
dressmaking, the total is 56,222. Subtracting this figure from 
the 338,144, given in Statistics of Women at Work as representing 
the number of dressmakers in the United States, there would seem 
to be 281,922 women engaged in dressmaking who are not classed 
as such in the census report on manufactures. It can not be assumed 
that all of these are women who make dresses at home or go out by 
the day; various causes may account for the difference between the 
two reports. Nevertheless, the figures are significant and give some 
idea of the proportion the domestic dressmaker forms of the total 
workers in the trade. 

The difficulty of determining the relative importance of different 
types of dressmaking is much increased by the vagueness with which 
the term " dressmaker" is used. Thus, the United States census for 
1900 reported 6,312 dressmakers in Boston. 3 But what is the defini- 
tion of "dressmakers" and how are they distinguished from seam- 
stresses or tailoresses ? The census does not enlighten us. The census 
figures by occupations, moreover, include both employers and em- 
ployees, while the employees include not only the skilled workers who 
might legitimately be called " dressmakers, " but a great many " seam- 
stresses" or plain sewers Who do the finishing work on the gowns. 
These workers may have reported themselves as "dressmakers" or 
"seamstresses" to the census enumerators. Others undoubtedly 
reported themselves as dressmakers who were not; so the statistics 
are far from satisfactory. 

The term "dressmaker" is so vague and so inaccurately applied 
that women are frequently listed as dressmakers in the city direc- 
tory year after year who never have done dressmaking for others or 
who work only occasionally. A Mrs. G. is summarized on the credit 
list of a large store in Worcester as follows; ''Above is not a dress- 
maker; never was. Said she was not when questioned, February 
1, '07." Yet she was still so listed in the city directory for 1909. 

* Special Reports of the Census Office, 1900. Statistics of Women at Work, p. 70. 

2 United States Census, 1900. Manufactures, Vol. IX, Pt. Ill, p. 302. 

s Special Reports of the Census Office, 1900. Statistics of Women at Work, p. 222. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEX IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



27 



Others who do some dressmaking may not be reported. A house- 
keeper, occasionally finding spare time in the spring or fall, goes 
into a large dressmaking shop for a month in the busy season. 
She is not a dressmaker, yet may be put under that heading by the 
census enumerator. Because of the lack of a fixed definition of the 
terms "dressmaking" and "dressmaker," statistics by occupation 
are of little value for practical or educational purposes. 

In the absence of complete census returns we are forced to a study 
of local conditions to discover the predominant types in the trade. 
The Boston city directory records 696 "mistress" dressmakers in 
1910, of whom only 240, or about one-third, can be regarded as regu- 
lar employers. Nearly two-thirds of those recorded as independent 
dressmakers by the directory are day or home workers, showing the 
surprising extent to which the women's clothing trade still retains its 
domestic characteristics in a city like Boston. 

The following table shows the extent of custom dressmaking in 
the cities studied: 

Table 3.— EXTENT OF CUSTOM DRESSMAKING IN 5 CITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



City. 



Boston 

Worcester. 

Lowell 

Cambridge 

Somerville 



Popula- 
tion in 
1910. i 



670,585 

145, 9S6 

106, 294 

104,839 

77, 236 



Rank 
ac- 
cord- 
ing 
to 
size 
of 
citv. 



Number of establish- 
ments in cities, based 
on specified sources. 



United 

States 
Census, 
1900.2 



271 
56 

155 
15 
16 



City 
direc- 
tory, 

1910. 



690 
■398 
217 
167 

149 



Fac- 
tory 



spec- 
tor's 



port, 
1910. 



181 
( 3 ) 
( 3 ) 
( 3 ) 
( 3 ) 



In- 

vesti- 
ga- 
tor's 
esti- 
mate 
1910. 



240 

18 

33 

12 

2 



Number employed, based on spscified 
sources. 



United 

States 

Census 

1900. 



1, 605 

645 

327 

24 

21 



Factory inspec- 
tor's report, 
1910. 



Men. 



97 
(') 



Wo- 
men. 



1,926 
( 3 ) 
(») 

( 3 ) 
( 3 ) 



Girls. 



40 



Number 
reported 
in shops 
visited. 



Men. 



Wo- 
men. 



2,032 

201 

50 

54 

10 



i United States Census, 1910. Population, Vol. II, p. 862. 

2 The United States census of J900 includes only the shop having an annual product of $500 or more. 
United States Census, 1900, Manufactures, Part I, pp. xxxix and ccxlii-ccxlv. The census of 1910 ex- 
cludes custom dressmaking entirely from the reports on manufactures. 

3 Not reported. 

While in Boston only about one-third of the dressmakers given in 
the city directory were employers, the proportion was even smaller 
in the other cities, ranging from 15.2 per cent in Lowell to 1.3 per 
cent in Somerville. This difference is mainly due to the proximity 
of the other cities to Boston, which makes large shops not only 
unnecessary but impracticable. The large fashionable custom 
shops of Boston with extensive capital, credit, prestige, and close 
connection with European centers of fashion are invincible com- 
petitors in the high-class trade. The large department stores of 
Boston offering ready-made clothing compete with the middle and 



28 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



low-class establishments. Only the simpler stages of the trade, 
therefore, are found in Massachusetts outside of Boston. 1 

In Worcester, which ranks second in population in Massachusetts, 
only 18 of the 398 dressmakers listed in the city directory could be 
classed as regular employers. Fully 95 per cent were home or day 
workers. 2 Lowell, though ranking as the fourth city in the State, 
is a great textile center, with absentee owners and a large mill popu- 
lation, and has developed only the simple stages of the dressmaking 
trade. Only 33 mistress dressmakers were found on investigation. 3 
In Cambridge, a residence and manufacturing city with a popula- 
tion of more than 100,000, only about a dozen dressmakers could be 
classed as employers and only six of these employed six or more 
girls. In Somerville, primarily a residential suburban city with a 
population of 77,236, only one dressmaker could be found who em- 
ployed three or four girls, and one with six or eight girls. The rest 
were home or day workers, many sewing only occasionally for friends 
and others working in Boston shops. 

The relative importance in the cities studied of day and home 
workers, as compared with custom dressmakers, is shown in the 
following table: 

Table 4.— TYPES OF DRESSMAKERS IN 5 CITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 





Boston. 


Worcester. Lowell. 


Cambridge. 


Somerville. 


Total. 


Type of dressmakers. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per !Num- 
cent. ! ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Day workers and homo 


456 
240 


65.5 
34.5 


380 
18 


95. 5 184 84. 8 
4.5 j 33 | 15.2 


155 

12 


92.8 
7.2 


147 
2 


98.7 
1.3 


1,322 

305 


81.3 


Total- 


18.7 


696 


100.0 


398 


100.0 J 217 


100.0 


167 


100.0 


149 !l00.0 


1,627 


100.0 











1 Investigator's estimate. 



- According to city directories, 1910. 



From this table it appears that the "custom dressmaker," using 
the term in its economic sense to indicate the "mistress dressmaker," 
who conducts a shop of her own and makes up the gowns of her 
customers in accordance with their specific demands, forms a very 
small proportion, only 34 per cent of those reporting themselves as 
dressmakers in Boston, 15 per cent in Lowell, 7 per cent in Cambridge, 
less than 5 per cent in Worcester, and about 1 per cent in Somer- 

i The dressmaking trade of Worcester, Cambridge, and Somerville was studied in connection with a 
larger investigation on the industrial opportunities for women which was made by the research department 
for the State board of education. See United States Bureau of Education Bulletin No. 17, A Trade 
School for Girls: A Preliminary Investigation in a Typical Manufacturing City, Worcester, Massachu- 
setts. 1913. 

2 This statement was made by the credit clerk in the largest department store in Worcester, who turned 
all credit records over to the investigator. It was substantiated by personal investigation. 

3 The trade in Lowell was studied under the direction of the writer by Miss Jennie Clement, a senior at 
Simmons College. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 29 

ville. The home and day workers, -who form from 85 to 99 per cent 
of the independent dressmakers in Worcester, Lowell, Cambridge, 
and Somerville and 66 per cent of those in Boston, never appear in 
official statistics for the trade, yet a knowledge of the opportunities 
and demands for such workers is essential to educators and voca- 
tional advisers. 

Custom dressmaking, like the factory branch, shows a tendency 
to concentrate in cities where large demands necessitate business 
and industrial organization, and here only are the various types of 
shops and methods of production found. Here seven distinct sys- 
tems of economic production are seen in (1) the home dressmaker 
who sews for herself and family, (2) the dressmaker who goes out 
by the day, (3) the "private dressmaker," (4) the medium-sized 
shop of the transition stage where the first rudiments of division of 
labor appear, (5) the large shop of specialized workers and marked 
division of labor, (6) the commercialized shop, and (7) the manu- 
facturing dressmaking shop. These seven stages show ascending 
stages of industrial evolution (1) in place of production, (2) in method 
of production, and (3) in relation between producer and consumer. 
The first stages of the trade show a close relation between place of 
production and the home, a simple system of production where the 
dressmaker and her small force of general helpers work side by side, 
and a close relation between producer and consumer. The more 
advanced stages show continuous evolution toward more highly 
specialized industrial organization. A description of these stages 
affords a picture of the trade as it exists to-day. 

1. THE FAMILY DRESSMAKER. 

The family system, the most primitive and simplest form of pro- 
duction, based on the family as an economic unit, still exists in the 
twentieth century and can be found in rural parts of the United 
States. The family produces for family needs (at least, those of the 
feminine element) and producer and consumer are identical. It is 
interesting to observe in this connection, however, that while dresses 
and hats can still be made at home by the family, shoes, stockings, 
knit underwear, etc., have been entirely monopolized by wholesale 
manufacturing . 

2. THE JOURNEYMAN DRESSMAKER. 

The dressmaker who goes out by the day typifies the next stage 
of evolution, the so-called help or hire system, in which the industry 
has developed beyond the capacity of the family group, and assist- 
ance is called in from outside sources. The producer goes to the 
home of the consumer where she makes up the materials owned and 
furnished by the client in accordance with her orders and sometimes 



30 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 

with her cooperation. She works "by the day," the wage usually 
including luncheon and sometimes dinner. 1 This, then, is but one 
step in advance of the family system. The producer who supplies 
the labor force is not a member of the family, so that producer and 
consumer are differentiated, but ownership of the work place, the raw 
materials and the instruments of production are still vested in the 
family, which also retains personal supervision of the work. 

In spite of its simplicity as an economic unit of production, this 
primitive stage presents a wide variation in the character and ability 
of the workers as well as in the kind of work done and shows a result- 
ant tendency toward specialization. Some day workers act only as 
" seamstresses " for the making of children's clo tiling, lingerie, and 
simple house dresses, receiving from $1 to $1.50 a day. Others go 
out by the day as "full-fledged dressmakers" who can be intrusted 
with entire charge of the making of any part of the customer's ward- 
robe. Such work requires not only initiative and ability, but knowl- 
edge and experience in designing, cutting, and making, and conse- 
quently commands a corresponding compensation. A capable and 
trustworthy dressmaker of this class can command from $2 to $4 a 
day. A good worker soon acquires an extensive clientele and the 
demand often far exceeds her ability to supply it, so she must either 
work beyond the regular eight and one-half or nine hour day, or 
become herself an employer, with one or more helpers at $1 or $1.50 
a day. 

The journeyman stage in the dressmaking trade has also an im- 
portant place in England and France. Even in Paris, the world's 
center of the women's clothing trade, a proprietor of one of the large 
shops maintained that "the very great number of home dressmakers 
and dressmakers who go out by the day at three and four francs 
[58 and 77 cents] (besides meals) and even two francs and two francs 
fifty [39 and 48 cents]," proved one of the three greatest sources of 
competition for the custom dressmaker. She insisted that "there 
is an increase of these workers, who penetrate even into the rich 
clientele for house dresses and 'transformations' ." 2 

The custom system in which the mistress dressmaker establishes 
herself in her own shop is a natural development from the journey- 
man stage and takes the form of either (1) the "private dressmaker" 
with a few general assistants, (2) the transition stage seen in the 
small shop with the beginnings of division of labor and differentiation 
between employer and worker, or, (3) the specialized shop in which 
work and workers are highly specialized. 

1 Similar conditions are reported for the day workers in Paris. See La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Lo 
Vetement a Paris, pp. 406-408. Fiance, Office du Travail. 

2 Op. cit., p. 447. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE EOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



31 



3. THE PRIVATE DRESSMAKER. 

As the "day worker" or perhaps "the head woman" 1 of a larger 
shop acquires a sufficiently wide acquaintance and experience to in- 
dulge her aspiration to become a "mistress dressmaker," the first 
stage of custom production appears. This class of workers is in- 
creased by the young woman or widow thrown upon her own resources 
who does not wish to go out by the day or the wife who wishes to 
augment her husband's income, and can not withdraw from the re- 
sponsibilities of the home. 2 In this stage the dressmaker has become 
an independent producer, provides her own work room and instru- 
ments of production, and may either work alone or emplo)'' from one 
to six assistants. But the close personal relation with her customers, 
who are almost wholly relatives and friends, has given her the trade 
term "private dressmaker." 

The following table shows the numerical importance of the private 
dressmaker in the cities studied: 

Table 5.— NUMBER AND PER CENT OF SHOPS OF SPECIFIED STAGES OF CUSTOM 
DRESSMAKING IN 5 CITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 





Boston. 


Worcester. 


Lowell. 


Cambridge. 


Somerville. 


Total. 


Stage of dressmaking. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per- 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cenl. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Private dressmakers 


Ill 

58 

63 

8 


46.3 

24.2 

26.2 

3.3 


i6 
4 

8 


33.3 
22.2 
44.4 


28 
4 
1 


84.9 
12.1 
3.0 


18 
4 


66.7 
33.3 


1 
1 


50.0 
50.0 


154 
71 

72 

8 


50.5 
23.3 




23.6 










2.6 












i 








Total 


240 


100.0 


18 


100.0 


33 


100.0 


12 100.0 


2 


100. 


305 


100.0 











i The larger proportion of private dressmakers do not show here because those employing only casual 
workers were not visited. 

It is significant that the private dressmaker constitutes the largest 
proportion of "mistress dressmakers " in all five cities studied, ranging 
from one-third in Worcester to more than four-fifths in Lowell, 
Almost one-half (46.3 per cent) of the custom dressmakers of Boston 
came within this elementary stage of the trade. 

While this first phase of the custom system shows some variation 
in the place of production and in the relation between producer and 
consumer, the system is fairly uniform. 3 The shop of the private 
dressmaker shows still a close relation to the home, and private 
dressmakers were discovered in a single room in a house or in small 
suites of rooms, combining living and business quarters, and tucked 
away in the back and on the upper floors of a business building. A 

1 See schedules presented by Office du Travail (France). La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vehement a 
Paris, pp. 414, 417, 419. 

2 Op. cit., pp. 410, 411, 412. 

3 Op. cit., pp. 409, 523. Also Makers of our Clothes, Meyer and Black , pp. 90, 91. 



32 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



few had one or two room shops in the business district, which were 
used for business purposes only. The majority had no sign or 
business advertisement of any sort, depending wholly on the per- 
sonal relation with customers to spread their fame. In Cambridge 
and Somerville all dressmakers carried on their business in their 
homes; but in Boston, Worcester, and Lowell more variation was 
discovered. But 13 of the 27 visited in Boston combined living and 
working quarters, while 5 out of 6 employing regular help in Worces- 
ter, and 4 out of 9 in Lowell, maintained the shop in the home. 1 

The workroom of the private dressmaker in the home is usually 
large, well lighted, and adequate for the small force employed; but 
a few very small workrooms were discovered in a business block 
where the rents were high. In some cases a small separate room and 
in others a single room divided by curtains constituted the work- 
room, in which cases the light and ventilation were insufficient. In 
this system of production the dressmaker is herself still the actual 
producer. She meets the customers, plans and designs the gowns 
(with or without the advice of the customer), cuts, fits, sews, and 
does the main part of the work. The majority of private dress- 
makers in the five cities studied either employed no helpers or took 
on a casual worker, usually an older woman, in the rush season, 
preferring the older seamstresses because they required less super- 
vision and direction. The professional dressmaker, however, who 
has a definite clientele and does a fairly high class of work usually 
employs from two to six helpers, and prefers young girls just 
acquiring the trade. The younger workers, they say, bring a fresh- 
ness and originality into the work, but after several years' expe- 
rience the more capable are ready for promotion beyond the oppor- 
tunities offered in a small shop. "My girls must go somewhere else 
when they have gotten beyond the $9 stage," said one dressmaker. 
"I have no need for the specialized or expert worker." 

According to the number of their employees, the private dress- 
makers visited in each city were grouped as follows: 

Table 6.— SIZE OF WORKING FORCE OF PRIVATE DRESSMAKERS VISITED IN 5 CITIES 

IN MASSACHUSETTS. 





Number of shops having specified number of workers in— 


Size of force. 


Boston. 


Worces- 
ter. 


Cam- 
bridge. 


Lowell. 


Somer- 
ville. 


Total. 




1 
15 

11 


1 

4 
2 






11 
1 


2 13 




3 
2 

1 


1 
6 
2 


24 




21 




1 


4 












Total 


27 


7 


6 


9 13 


02 











1 See similar state of affairs quoted in schedules in La Petite Industrie. Vol. II, Le Vetement a Paris, 
pp. 409, 414, 41ti, 41S. France, Oflice du Travail. 
* Not included in Table 5. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. S3 

The beginner has a good opportunity for learning her trade in 
the shop of the private dressmaker, first, because she works under 
the immediate supervision of her employer, and second, because as 
the work is not highly specialized she is not confined to one process. 
The organization of the force is simple and informal, the workers 
sitting about the employer, who does the skilled part of the work 
and turns it over to the helpers, finishers, or plain sewers, by what- 
ever term they may be called, for the simpler processes, such as 
sewing on hooks, eyes, and buttons, making button holes, collars, 
ornaments for trimmings, basting and seaming up linings, sewing 
and overcasting straight seams, and putting on braid. Since there 
is little division of work, the young learner under the supervision of 
her employer has opportunity to acquire general training and expe- 
rience on all parts of the gown and to see the relation of the parts 
to each other. 

The wage scale of the private dressmaker commonly ranges from 
$3 to $9. The young learner usually earns from $3 to $5 a week and 
the older or more experienced worker from $6 to $9. This wage 
scale remains the same for this type of worker, the plain sewer, 
throughout all the stages of her trade. 

The business relation between producer and consumer is simple. 
The consumer comes to the producer instead of vice versa as in the 
journeyman stage, and in the smaller shops may provide all materials 
and trimmings and determine in detail how the gown shall be made. 
In the more advanced stages, however, the producer furnishes some 
or all of the materials and turns over the finished product to the con- 
sumer, thus profiting by the rebate (10 per cent in Boston) allowed 
by the furnishing stores. 1 In the private dressmaker stage, therefore, 
producer and consumer are removed one step farther in that the 
workroom, instruments of production, and, in the more advanced 
stages, the materials are provided by the producer instead of by the 
consumer. The private dressmaker, however, still remains in varj^- 
ing degrees the worker, according as she does or does not delegate the 
work to her helpers. 

4. THE DRESSMAKER OF THE TRANSITION STAGE. 

The second stage of custom work is distinctly one of transition 
from the primitive stages of close personal relationship between pro- 
ducer and consumer, and identity of employer and worker, to the 
more highly developed stages involving increasing division of labor. 
In this stage are seen the beginnings of differentiation between con- 
tractor and producer, employer and worker, and gradations among 

1 M. du Maroussem says the large furnishing stores of Paris allow 2 to 3 per cent rebate to dressmakers. 
France, Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Veteraent a Paris, pp. 426, 441. 

29883°— Bull. 193— 1G 3 



34 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OE LABOR STATISTICS. 

the workers according to their skill, capacity, and wage. As the 
trade grows, the employer's time is increasingly occupied with cus- 
tomers and "buying on the one side, and with the greater amount of 
work to be arranged and supervised on the other. So with decreasing 
time and increasing work, the employer must delegate some of her 
work to " heads," and the advantage of more specialization of workers 
and further division of labor becomes apparent. 

The dressmaker of this stage occupies a smaller place in the trade, 
forming about one-fourth of those studied in Boston and Worcester, 
one-third in Cambridge, and one-eighth in Lowell. 1 In Cambridge 
and Somerville and, with but one exception, in Lowell, this is the 
highest stage of development found in the trade. There are about 
60 establishments of this type in Boston, 4 each in Worcester, Cam- 
bridge, and Lowell, and 1 in Somerville. The dressmakers in Cam- 
bridge, Lowell, and Somerville carry on the business in the home. 
The four in Worcester had shops in a business block, and only five of 
the twenty-seven visited in Boston combine home and shop. The ma- 
jority of the shops consist of suites of two rooms, the reception and fit- 
ting room and the workroom, located in large business buildings in the 
business section. Signs on doors and windows advertising the place 
and kind of work now become more common. The private dress- 
maker works for personal friends and relatives. The dressmaker of 
the stage of transition seeks the patronage of a more general public. 
She therefore moves her shop to a more conspicuous and accessible 
location and seeks to attract the attention of the casual passer-by. 

The dressmaker of the transition stage delegates her duties in 
varying degrees, according to the size of her force and her trade. 
Although she devotes her time increasingly to the business manage- 
ment and the supervision and direction of the production, she still 
cuts and fits the gown, and, in the smaller shops, retains in her own 
hands one or several of the more skilled processes. The degree to 
which responsibility is delegated in shops of different sizes is illus- 
trated by the following data concerning the working force of two 
fairly representative shops : 

Shop N, with a maximum force of 7 workers, has 2 — 

2 waist girls, of whom — 

1 head waist girl receives $12. 
1 finisher receives $8. 
1 coat girl, who receives $12. 

3 skirt girls, who receive $8, $7, and $5, respectively. 
1 plain sewer, who receives $5. 

Shop K, with a maximum force of 11 workers, has — 

4 waist girls, of whom — 

1 head waist girl receives $9.50. 

3 finishers receive $7, $6, and $5, respectively. 

i See Table 5, p. 31. 2 Based on pay rolls. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 35 

1 coat girl, who receives $12. 
4 skirt girls, of whom — 

1 head skirt girl receives $14.50. 

3 finishers receive $8, $7, and $6, respectively. 
1 errand girl, who receives $1.50. 
1 office girl, who receives $8. 

In shop N a head waist girl or "draper'' drapes the soft, delicate 
materials on the figure, and must put them together so they will have 
artistic lines but fit the figure snugly, which requires artistic sense, 
deftness, and skill. The coat girl works with heavy, so-called 
"mannish" materials, which she must put together so they will fit 
the figure but retain the loose mannish effect and have the tailored 
appearance. Such work requires much greater strength, precision, 
and accuracy. The employer in this shop still retains charge of the 
skirts, delegating the simpler processes to the "plain sewers." In 
shop K the employer has delegated the more skilled work on waists, 
coats, and skirts to a head girl in each of these sections, and has also 
intrusted some of the business management to an office girl or book- 
keeper. The increased force and trade has necessitated increased 
delegation of the responsibility to special workers. 

As shown in the following table the characteristic working force 
of the shop of the transition type in Boston ranges from 5 to 15 
girls, in Worcester from 5 to 12, in Cambridge and Lowell from 5 
to 10, and in Somerville from 5 to 8. Thus, an interesting relation 
between the size of the force and the city in which it does business 
is apparent. 

Takle 7.— SIZE OF WORKING FORCE OF DRESSMAKERS OF THE TRANSITION STAGE 
IN 5 CITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 

[Based on reports of employers.] 





Number of shops having specified number of workers in— 


Size of force. 


Boston. 


Worces- 
ter. 


Lowell. i 


Cam- 
bridge. 1 


Somer- 
ville. 


Total. 




11 
10 
4 


2 

2 




3 
1 


i 
1 i 17 




1 


14 






4 












Total 


25 


4 


1 


4 


1 









1 No shop in this city employed more than 10 workers. 

About one-half (25) of the shops in the stage of transition in 
Boston, one of the four in Lowell, and all that could be found in 
Worcester (4), Cambridge (4), and Somerville (1), were visited. 

The wage scale of the shop of the transition stage shows the intro- 
duction of the more skilled workers. While the S3 to $9 scale was 
characteristic of the private dressmaking shop, the $9 to $15 rate 
appears for the "heads" in the larger shop. The "head girl" in 



36 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.- 



the smaller shop or "the waist draper" or "skirt draper" in the 
larger shop who assumes any initiative or responsibility receives a 
weekly wage of $9 to $10. In the Boston shops the majority of 
waist drapers fall within the $10 to $12 group, the skirt drapers 
being in the $10 group, since their work does not offer or require so 
much opportunity for originality of ideas and for artistic and con- 
structive ability. In the suburban cities, where the force is smaller 
and work perhaps of not so high a grade, the head girl or draper 
frequently receives $9, and only one instance of a wage of more than 
$10 was discovered. 

Table 8.— MAXIMUM WEEKLY WAGE OF TWO CLASSES OF SKILLED WORKERS IN 
SHOTS OF THE TRANSITION STAGE, BY SIZE OF FORCE. 

[Based on reports of 35 employers visited.] 





Boston. 


Smaller cities. 1 


Size of force. 


Waist drapers. 


Skirt 
drapers. 


Waist drapers. 


Skirt 
drapers. 




$9 


$12 


§15 


$10 


$12 


$9 


$10 


$11 


$9 


$10 






2 
5 
5 
9 


1 


2 
6 
4 
10 




1 








1 




1 


5 


1 


i 


6 




2 








1 


1 


1 




l 


1 






Total 


2 


21 


1 


22 


2 


2 


6 


1 


2 


8 







i Worcester, Cambridge, Lowell, and Somerville. 

The ''sleeve girl" when employed in the larger shop of the transi- 
tion stage receives from $7.50 to $9. She makes the sleeves, but is 
necessarily subordinate to the head waist girl, who must plan the 
waist as a whole. One shop in Worcester reported a coat maker at 
$9 and three in Boston a coat maker at $10 to $15. Three reported 
so-called forewomen at $15, who cut the materials and supervised 
the workroom in general, thus anticipating the stage of specialization 
in which the hired supervisors or heads of the workroom are com- 
mon. 1 The wage of the skilled workers varies with individual skill 
and with the amount of responsibility assumed and corresponds to 
a certain extent to the size of the force, and to the extent to which 
the employer retains supervision of work and workers. The wage 
scale for the finishers and plain sewers remains the same as in the 
private shops. 

In the workroom of the shop of the transition stage the young 
worker's opportunity to acquire her trade is even better than in the 
shop of the private dressmaker. She still comes under the personal 

» See also Women's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking, by Margaret Irwin; Great Britain, Royal Com- 
mission on Labor, 1893; Condition of Work in Scotland, by Margaret Irwin, p. 292. Also Women and the 
Clothing Trade in Amsterdam, by Mine. Treub-Comaz, Women's Industrial News, London, September, 
1901, p. 250, concerning division of labor. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 37 

supervision and direction of her employer, gains a fairly general expe- 
rience, works on a higher class product, and under more systematized 
management. The work is still fairly regular and continuous, though 
less so than in the private shop. 

The furnishing by the dressmaker of materials chosen from sam- 
ples now becomes the more common method of doing business. This 
affords a distinct profit to the dressmaker in the rebates allowed by 
furnishing houses, but is counterbalanced by the necessity of 
increased capital and credit. A large force of more specialized and 
consequently more highly paid help necessitates heavier expenses 
and the business system necessitates large purchases in advance. As 
a result the problem of capital now assumes increasing proportions. 

5. THE DRESSMAKER OF THE SHOP OF SPECIALIZED WORKERS. 

The stage of specialization in custom dressmaking was presaged in 
the transition stage. Increasing demands by the customers on her 
time and attention and the increased size of her force and of the 
amount of work gradually force the employer to relinquish still fur- 
ther to employees the more important phases of production as well 
as the supervision of details. However, the large shop of specialized 
workers is characteristic only of the larger cities. No shops of this 
type were found in Cambridge and Somerville, but more than one- 
fourth of the shops visited in Boston (26.2 per cent) and almost one- 
half (44.4 per cent) of those visited in Worcester came within this 
class. 

The shop of this stage assumes increasingly the appearance of a 
business establishment. The large quarters are emphasized and 
advertised by gilt signs on the door and on many windows over- 
looking the street. On entering the reception room, a wide selection 
of materials, laces, embroideries, and trimmings of all sorts may 
tempt the eye of the visitor, or the room may present the luxurious 
appearance of a private parlor. Separate fitting rooms and work- 
rooms lead off the reception room, and a separate workroom for each 
division of production, as a skirt room, sleeve room, waist room, and 
tailoring room, is observed in many of the larger shops. 1 Only occa- 
sionally is a shop of this kind found in the home of the dressmaker, 
though one of the largest dressmakers in Boston, employing 100 
workers, and one in Worcester with 24 or 25 employees, carry on 
their business in the large residences where they make their homes. 
Even at this stage, which involves large finances, women predominate, 
although to succeed here a woman must combine shrewd business 
capacity with a high degree of professional skill and artistic ingenuity. 

1 Similar division of labor and specialized workers characterize the large shops of Paris. See description 
of shops in La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetcment k Paris, p. 447. France, Office du Travail. Also 
Women's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking, by Margaret Irwin, Glasgow, p. 33. 



38 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Men are found in the trade at this stage, however. Sometimes a 
husband or brother has charge of the financial department and some- 
times a man appears as sole head of such an establishment, while a 
man tailor occasionally combines dressmaking with his tailoring 
department to meet the needs of his customers and better to solve 
and equalize the seasonal difficulties. As the street suit needs waists 
and blouses, the more progressive tailor is adding a department for 
waists, which occasionally develops into a dressmaking department. 
Virginia Penny wrote in 1863, "In Germany many dressmakers are 
men, and there is one on Broadway, New York," 1 but the develop- 
ment and popularity of the tailor-made suit in the last half century 
has greatly increased the opportunity for and number of men in the 
dressmaking trade. 2 

The size of the establishment and of the working force varies widely 
in the shops of the specialized workers. As shown in the following 
table, one-half of the shops visited in Boston and Worcester employed 
from 12 to 18 workers; about one-fourth of the shops in each city 
employed from 20 to 25. Eleven visited in Boston and one in 
Worcester employed from 30 to 60, and one exceptionally large shop 
in Boston employed 112 workers. 



Table 9. 



-SIZE OF THE WORKING FORCE IN SHOPS OF THE SPECIALIZATION STAGE 
IN BOSTON AND WORCESTER. 

[Based on employers' reports.] 



Size of force. 


Number of shops having speci- 
fied number of employees in — 


Boston. 


Worces- 
ter. 


Total. 




21 
9 

» 12 


5 

2 

21 


26 
11 
13 






Total 


42 


8 


50 









1 One shop had a force of 112 workers. 2 Force of 30 workers. 

In the majority of the shops of specialized workers the employer 
still retains the planning, cutting, and fitting of the gowns, but in 7 
of the 50 shops visited she had delegated even these most skilled 
processes. In shop B, with a maximum force of 65, 3 the distribution 
and wages of the employees are as follows: 

1 head waist girl receives $30, and supervises — 
9 waist drapers, of whom — 
2 receive $15. 

1 receives $12. 

2 receive $11. 
4 receive $10. 

1 The Employments of Women, by Virginia Penny, p. 324. 2 See Table 1. s Based on pay rolls. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IX MASSACHUSETTS. 39 

11 finishers, of whom — 

3 receive from $9 to $9.50. 

4 receive from $8 to $8.50. 

2 receive from $6 to $6.50. 
1 receives $4. 

1 receives S3. 
1 head of linings receives 812. 
1 power machine operator receives $12. 
1 head sleeve girl receives $15, and supervises — 

.4 finishers, who receive $10, $9, $7.50, and $5.50, respectively. 
1 head tailor (man) receives $45, and supervises — 

6 tailors, of whom — 

1 man receives $22. 

3 men receive $21. 

2 women receive $15. 
3 finishers, of whom — 

2 receive $10. 

1 receives $2.50. 

1 head skirt girl receives $24, and supervises— 
22 assistants, of whom — 

2 receive $14. 
1 receives $13. 

1 receives $12. 

2 receive $11. 
2 receive $10. 

5 receive $9 to $9.50. 
5 receive $8 to $8.50. 

1 receives $7.50. 

2 receive |5. 
1 receives $3. 

4 office girls receive $14, $10, $8.50, and $5.50. 

The head waist girl, head skirt girl, and tailor plan in consultation 
with their employer the different gowns and execute the work in their 
respective departments. Seven shops reported one or more men 
tailors. The tailor (or head tailor where several are employed) is 
usually also a cutter, and receives from $18 to $45 a week, according 
to the degree of skill and responsibility. 

The employer in the stage of specialization as in that of transition 
is increasingly delegating her powers. The size of the force and the 
amount of responsibility assumed, therefore, explain the variation in 
the wage of the head workers. In a shop employing 12 to 18 workers, 
the employer still retains general supervision of the work. In shops 
employing. 20 to 40 workers, the responsibility is increasingly assumed 
by the head girls, while in a force of 60 to 100 each head worker is 
practically in charge of her section of the work, and occupies the 
place which the employers hold in the stages of transition. 



40 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



The following table shows the relation between the size of the work- 
ins force and the wages of the skilled workers : 

Table 10.— MAXIMUM WEEKLY WAGE OF THREE CLASSES OF SKILLED WORKERS IN 
SHOPS OF THE SPECIALIZATION STAGE, BY SIZE OF FORCE.* 

[Based on reports of 49 employers visited.) 





Number of shops reporting classified maximum wage for— 




Waist drapers. 


Skirt drapers. 


Sleeve drapers. 


Size of force in — 


$10 
and 
un- 
der 
$12 


812 
and 
un- 
der 
$15 


$15 
and 
un- 
der 
$20 


$20 
and 
un- 
der 

$25 


$25 
and 
over. 


$10 
and 
un- 
der 
$12 


$12 
and 
un- 
der 
$15 


$15 
and 
un- 
der 
$20 


$20 
and 
un- 
der 

$25 


$25 
and 
over. 


$9 

and 
un- 
der 

$12 


$12 
and 
un- 
der 
$15 


$15 
and 
un- 
der 
$20 


Boston: - 


1 


5 
1 
2 

3 


13 
3 
2 

2 
1 






5 


3 


7 
5 
4 

3 
1 
1 






5 
2 
2 

1 


3 
2 
3 


3 




1 

4 


3 
3 




2 
1 


2 






1 


1 


3 


Worcester: 








1 






1 






1 






1 

































1 See similarity of conditions presented in Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor Statis- 
tics of New York, 1908, p. 158. 

2 Not all shops reported on all workers. 

The head waist girl earns from $10 to $15 in a force of 12 to 18 
workers; $12 to $25 in a force of 20 to 40 workers, and $18 to $35 in 
a force of 60 to 100 workers. The head skirt girl earns from $10 to 
$18 in a force of 12 to 18 workers, $10 to $20 in a force of 20 to 60 
workers, and $20 as a minimum in a force of 80 to 100 workers. 

In the stage of transition the employer assumed general responsi- 
bility and the direction of production. Nine to fifteen dollar drapers 
on waists and skirts performed the more skilled work and finishers and 
helpers did the simpler processes. In the stage of specialization the 
employer delegates the responsibility and the direction of the processes 
to head w T aist, skirt, and sleeve drapers, these positions being merely 
superimposed on the system of organization of the smaller shops. 
The $18 to $35 draper, now taking, in a certain degree, the place of 
the employer of the transition stage, supervises the $9 to $15 drapers, 
who are in turn assisted by the $6 to $10 finishers. 

Miss Irwin, in the report of her investigation of the dressmaking 
trade in Glasgow, notes the " great discrepancy in wage * * * 
between the rank and file and the 'first' and 'second' hand, but, of 
course," she says, " there is a corresponding difference in their respec- 
tive skill and ability," 1 which is quite obviously the situation in 
Boston. The advanced stages of the trade require at the one extreme 
mere mechanical labor and continual repetition of several processes. 
The workers capable of meeting this demand are numerous, the value 

i Women's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking, by Margaret Irwin, p. 36. See also Le Salaire <!es 
Femmes, par Poisson, p. 72, and La Femme dans l'lndustrie, par Gonnard, p. 109. 



DRESSMAKING! AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 41 

of their work is comparatively small, and their compensation is corre- 
spondingly low. At the other extreme is offered the opportunity for 
originality, initiative, highest artistic skill, judgment, administrative 
ability, and tact. Few workers possess or can acquire these qualifi- 
cations, and the demand for those Avho have them greatly exceeds 
the supply. But, though few can qualify for these higher positions, 
"still the chances are there," as Miss Irwin expresses it, "and are to 
the dressmaker's apprentice what the marshal's baton was in the 
knapsack of Napoleon's young recruit." 

The opportunity for the young worker in a large specialized work- 
room is problematical. Ordinarily she must enter as an errand girl 
whose work, specialized like that of all the others, seldom leaves time 
or opportunity for learning the sewing processes. If a girl by her 
own ability secures a transfer to the sewing room, or if she has suffi- 
cient maturity and capacity to enter as a sewer, she still faces great 
difficulties. The workshop is divided into separate sections or work- 
rooms where particular parts of the work are turned out. The 
workrooms are large but crowded and rushed in the busy season, 
and the organization is much more formal than in a small shop. A 
"head girl" assumes responsibility for a certain part of the gown, and 
her subordinate workers are usually grouped around a table over 
which she presides. The work for the day is systematically planned; 
she distributes the work among her drapers and finishers, each of 
whom does one process only. She must make her division pay, and 
has therefore little time or inclination to divert her attention to 
systematic training of inexperienced young workers, so the learner 
must "pick up" the trade as best she can, if the head girl allows her 
to remain at all. When she has acquired proficiency in one process, 
it is not surprising if neither she nor her employer is inclined to 
change her employment. The employee must complete her work 
promptly and satisfactorily, and the young girl is contented with the 
easily and quickly acquired processes. The young worker, therefore, 
becomes in time a sleeve finisher, waist finisher, or skirt finisher, and 
may never see the relation of her section of the work to the whole. 
"I make sleeves all day long," said one girl in a large shop, "and 
never see the waists to which they belong. The waists are made in 
another room." 1 

The large shop does, however, have two great advantages by which 
the girl gifted with initiative and ability profits — the high-class work 
and the highly paid positions. The high class of work provides a 
valuable training which could not be acquired elsewhere. "I could 
make more money," said a young girl who came in each day from a 
suburban city, "by working for a dressmaker at home. After seeing 

1 Mme. Treub-Cornaz describes a similar situation in Amsterdam. Women's Industrial News, Septem- 
ber, 1901.. p. 2o0. 



42 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

the kind of work done I couldn't be induced to work there. She 

is a 'regular country dressmaker.' I love to work at W 's.. I 

am working right under the head sleeve girl and learning how to 
drape sleeves. We work with beautiful materials." The highly paid 
positions in a large shop are open to the gifted worker. Individual 
instances of rising from errand girl to head girl, draper, or fitter are 
occasionally encountered, though opportunities for such advance- 
ment decrease with the increasing specialization in industry 'and the 
consequent lack of opportunity to acquire training. 

The employer of the large shop furnishes all the materials. She 
may produce a garment at a price based on an itemized computation 
of the cost of work and materials, as in the previous stage, or she 
may name a set or contract price for the completed gown sufficient 
to cover various possible contingencies, such as long credit and several 
changes of mind on the part of the client. This system is possible 
only for the dressmaker who has a large reserve capital and extensive 
credit, for the business is increasingly placed on a credit basis. Many 
of the firms of this type purchase large and assorted stocks of mate- 
rials and furnishings from New York and European importers who 
allow a three, four, or six months' credit, according to the standing 
of the local firm. A dressmaker of this type can not attempt business 
without sufficient capital for at least a season's or even a year's 
running expenses, as her customers' credit runs from 3 to 18 months. 

In dealing with shops of this stage the customer occupies a position 
of independence as to the production and is in a position to accept 
or refuse the finished product, which is, until she accepts it, the prop- 
erty of. the contractor throughout. Some firms report that an 
unscrupulous customer occasionally takes advantage of this situation 
to refuse a gown made for hei% in which case the dressmaker may 
lose not only the cost of making and the anticipated profit, but even 
the cost of the materials used. This possibility exposes the head of 
a specialized shop to a risk not incurred by dressmakers in the simpler 
stages of the trade, who make up the materials of their customers 
and who at the worst lose only the labor involved. According to 
M. du Maroussem, the risk of such refusals constitutes a serious factor 
in the problem of the Paris dressmaker. 1 

6. THE COMMERCIAL DRESSMAKER. 

The "industrialization" of the trade, as M. de Seilhac 2 has aptly 
termed it, is a natural development which has been presaged in the 
preceding stages. It is the culmination of efforts to evolve a more 
highly developed system of administration, by which the great prob- 
lems of capital, competition, labor, and seasonal fluctuation may 
meet a satisfactory solution. The establishment of this stage is seen 

i France, Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetement a Paris, p. 486. 
2 L'Industrie de la Couture et de la Confection a Paris, par Leon de Seilhac, p. 12. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEX IX MASSACHUSETTS. 4o 

in two forms — the commercialized shop and the manufacturing 
establishment. 

The large custom dressmaker frequently develops into a merchant 
or commercial dressmaker for several reasons. The short season of 
the shop of specialized workers makes it difficult to maintain a regu- 
lar force, and the stock of materials must find an outlet. The com- 
mercial dressmaker employs her force in the dull season in making 
up these materials in advance of orders, and offers for sale her ready- 
to-wear- gowns as superior to the ready-made product of her closest 
competitor, the wholesale manufacturer. Then, too, she gradually 
incorporates in her stock the various accompaniments of her cus- 
tomers' wardrobes. Four different lines of stock are observed in the 
commercialized shops in Boston: (1) Ready-to-wear or ready-made 
waists, gowns, suits, and cloaks; (2) millinery; (3) neckwear and 
lingerie; (4) furs. 1 

A forerunner of the large commercialized shop is seen in the estab- 
lishment of the small private dressmaker who has her girls in slack 
time make fancy ornaments and trimmings which she offers far 
sale to her customers, as well as in the shop of the large dressmaker 
who frequently makes up "Paris models" in the dull season, thus 
solving the labor and seasonal problems and disposing of materials 
which had not yet been made up. The commercial dressmaker merely 
emphasizes the making and sale of gowns produced in advance of 
specific orders of customers. 

The commercial dressmaking shop is usually owned and conducted 
by a man, by a partnership of a clever woman dressmaker and a 
business man, or by an incorporated company. 2 ''This seeming 
anomaly'' (predominance of men), says M. Leon de Seilhac, "is ex- 
plained by the fact that in a 'grande industrie' a woman is little 
fitted to direct affairs. Even if she had the power of administration 
and could combine this with economy (of management) she would 
be afraid to make the plunge. She would not dare risk enormous 
expenditures when she was not assured of recovering them. Or 
even the woman with a head for business, who had taste and was 
an 'artiste,' would too often be incompetent. The man alone can 
direct an 'industrie' so considerable." 3 However much truth 
there may be in M. de Seilhac's reasoning, the predominance of 
men in "commercialized" or "industrialized" dressmaking is as 
evident in America as in Paris. 

1 See similar cases in La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Veteruent a "Paris, pp. 442. 4.35, 4.">7, 461, 162, 468. 
France, Office du Travail. 

2 M. du Maroussem reports a similar situation in Paris: "Grande Couture— The dressmakers, this mas- 
culine group which dominates the whole, representing the 'grande commerce/ draw the greatest profits 
from a combination of specialties (dressmaking, lingerie, furs, millinery)." France, Office du Travail. 
La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetement a Paris, p. 488. Also LTndustrie de la Couture ot de la Confec- 
tion a Paris, par Leon de Seilhac, p. 12. 

3 L'Industrie de la Couture et de la Confection a Paris, par Leon de Seilhac, p. 13. 



44 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

The commercialized shop usually presents all the characteristics 
of a large mercantile establishment. The output of the department 
of production must he disposed of. Such a shop must, therefore, 
appeal to the general public, and is usually located on a street floor 
in the shopping section of the city. Tempting show windows dis- 
play the waists and gowns made in the shop or purchased from manu- 
facturing establishments and attract the attention of the casual passer- 
by. Spacious show and sales rooms require a force of saleswomen. 
The large business necessitates a force of clerical and secretarial work- 
ers, who have had precursors in the occasional bookkeeper and stock 
girl of the larger dressmakers, but who now become a regular and 
necessary part of the force. The show and sales rooms, fitting rooms, 
and workrooms are all conducted and managed under a highly de- 
veloped administrative or commercial system. 

The working force of the "commercialized" shop shows still 
greater division of labor than prevails in the large custom shop. 
Secretarial and clerical workers, saleswomen, custom workers, and 
alteration hands now comprise the force. 1 In a large establishment 
of this kind the employer is occupied with the general supervision 
and administration, and as a result has less personal connection with 
the actual production. The degree of connection retained varies 
in different establishments. 2 

In the most advanced stage the whole charge and direction of the 
department of production is vested in a "designer," "forewoman," 
or "head dressmaker," under whatever title she may be described. 
One establishment, shop A, employing 100 girls in the store, assigns 
the whole charge of designing and producing fancy and lingerie wear, 
custom and ready-to-wear, to a force of 61 workers, thus divided as 
to work and wages : 3 

1 designer raid head dressmaker, who receives $50. 

1 designer and fitter, who receives $30. 

1 fitter and head of stock, who receives $18. 

1 shopper, who, receives $12. 

13 tailors, of whom — 

2 men receive $35. 

1 man receives $25. 

1 man receives $22. 

2 men receive $21. 

3 men receive $20. 

1 See description of similar establishments in La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetement it Paris; p. 403. 
France, Office du Travail. 

2 Similar variations are reported in the schedules of La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetement k Paris, 
pp. 455, 457. France, Office du Travail. An employer of the Quartier du Palais Royal, head of a large 
establishment combining custom and ready-to-wear production, "is occupied wholly with the commercial 
side of the enterprise." Ibid., p. 457. 

Another, of the Quartier de l'Opera, "is occupied with the commercial side of the enterprise; also 
fo some extent with the purely industrial, the fitting, because of lack of confidence in the head girls.'' 
Ibid., p. 455. 

8 Based on pay. rolls. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TKADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



45 



1 man receives $12. 

1 man and 1 woman receive $11 each. 

1 man receives $9. 

5 waist drapers, of whom — 

2 receive $18. 

3 receive $16, §11. and $9, respectively. 
8 waist finishers, of whom — 

1 receives $10.50. 

3 receive $9. 
1 receives $8. 

1 receives $5. 

2 receive $4 to $4.50. 

2 workers on waist linings, who receive $7 and §4, respectively. 
4 embroiderers, who receive §10, $8, $7.50, and $7, respectively. 
1 sleeve draper, who receives §16 and supervises — 

I finisher, who receives §8. 

1 head skirt girl, who receives $30 and supervises — 

4 skirt drapers, who receive $18, $12, $11, and §10.50. respectively. 

II skirt finishers, of whom — 

1 receives $12. 

2 receive $10 to §10.50. 

3 receive $9 to §9.50. 

1 receives $8. 

2 receive $5. 

2 receive $3.50. 

2 office girls, who receive §10 and $8, respectively. 
1 errand girl, who receives §4.50. 

4 unclassified by occupation, who receive $10, $8, and $6 (2), respectively. 

The members of another firm having 100 employees retain in their 
own hands the designing, but delegate the direction and supervision 
of the actual production to a "head dressmaker" receiving $40 a 
week, and an assistant dressmaker on $20 a week, with a 10 to 10^ 
months' season. A woman merchant dressmaker, who assumes the 
responsibility for a force of 30 and who takes the general supervision 
herself, pays her fitter $30. While the head dressmaker or designer, 
the expert fitter, and the heads of stock in the commercialized shop 
replace the employer of the shop of specialized workers, the organiza- 
tion and wage scale of the subordinate producing force is practically 
the same as shown in shops A and B. 1 

Table 11 — MAXIMUM WEEKLY WAGE OF WORKERS IN THE PRODUCING DEPART- 
MENT OF COMMERCIALIZED SHOPS, BY SIZE OF FORCE. 

[P.ased on reports of 5 employers visited.! 



Size of force. 


Head dress- 
makers. 


Assistant 
head dress- 
makers. 


Waist 
drapers. 


Skirt 
drapers. 


Sleeve 
drapers. 


25 workers 






$17 
27 
15 
48 
25 


$20 
25 
12 
12 
30 


$14 


25 workers 





30 workers 


$30 
40 
50 






100 workers 


$20 
40 


12 


100 workers 







1 See list of workers reported for shop A, above, and list for shop B on pp. 38 and 39. 



46 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 

With the complication of the business and the detailed division of 
labor, the salaried "head dressmaker" has acquired a position of high 
importance. The employer or firm has become emancipated from 
any personal relation with the producing department, since complete 
charge has been turned over to the "head dressmaker." The system 
of "contract by the job," in labor parlance, or contract price for the 
completed product now becomes customary. The capitalist employer 
provides the raw materials and disposes of the finished product, hav- 
ing no longer any direct or personal connection with the intermediate 
processes. The customer has lost connection with all but the final 
stage, acceptance or rejection of the finished product. The large 
establishment involves a greater outlay for rent and general expendi- 
tures, and requires the employment of higher priced workers, but 
possible returns are kept down by the competition of the small dress- 
makers on the one side and of the factories producing ready-made 
garments on the other. Profits must now depend primarily on the 
large numbers of garments produced and disposed of. 1 The tendency 
in the majority of such establishments is toward the predominance of 
the sales department and the gradual decline of the department of 
custom production. This is partially due to the increasing demand 
for the ready-to-wear garment, but the primary cause is the fact that 
the sales department yields greater profits than the department of 
custom production. 

After reaching a certain size the custom department yields a loss 
rather than a profit. This instance of the law of diminishing returns 
seems to be due to three causes. First, as the size of the force in- 
creases a correspondingly increasing number of specialists, heads of 
the various sections of production, must be employed at large sal- 
aries. 2 Second, a hired supervisor or forewoman who secures the 
most economical use of time, labor, and materials is the exception. 
Third, the profits on the ready-to-wear can be definitely foreseen by 
setting a fixed price, with additional sum for alteration. A profit on 
the custom work can never be assured, as innumerable changes may 
increase the cost of production indefinitely. The customer who sees 
a completed garment may try it on for effect, and if it meets her 
approval, purchase it at the specified sum. If, however, she orders a 
custom-made gown, it may, when fairly near completion, fail to please 
her. It must then be taken apart and sometimes altered or made 
over again and again to please a whim or fancy, so that the total cost 
of additional labor, materials, and trimmings sometimes exceeds the 
contracted price, which must stand as originally set regardless of all 
changes. For instance, in one exclusive establishment a ready-to- 

1 A large French firm of the same category tells the same story. France, Office du Travail. La Petite 
Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetemeht ii "Paris, p. 464. 

2 Compare wage scales of shops on pp. 34, 35, 38, 39, 44, and 45. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 47 

wear gown costing $6 sold for $40. A custom-made gown in the 
same establishment actually costing $85 by the time it met with the 
customer's approval sold for $85, the original contract price. The 
labor alone on a gown in such an establishment sometimes costs $125. 
Many instances could be cited of garments being taken apart three, 
four, and five times to please a customer, making the cost of labor 
just so much greater than the amount calculated by the employer 
when setting the price. In this stage, then, the high-class custom 
work is not only less profitable than the production of ready-to-wear 
garments, but also involves much more worry and presents a serious 
problem in the necessity of securing expert workers. This situation 
tends to bring about a further development, either the total abandon- 
ment of manufacture by the firm, except for the alteration depart- 
ment, or the production of ready-to-wear for a wider and more general 
market. The custom work has sometimes been continued in order 
to retain old customers, or for the disposal of materials sold in the 
merchandise department. The department of custom production in 
either case, however, assumes the role of an accessory rather than of 
the principal. 1 Only one of the large furnishing houses of Boston has 
retained the department of custom production, which the firm says 
"does not pay." 

The origin of a large, fashionable women's furnishing goods house 
of the first type dates back 30 years to the custom dressmaking estab- 
lishment of a dressmaker who conducted a private business in her 
home. Her business gradually increased until, upon the maturity of 
her sons, it was decided to develop its scope. They established them- 
selves in a commercialized shop in the business section of the city, and 
gradually added to the department of custom production millinery, 
ready-to-wear and ready-made clothing, and imported gowns, coats, 
suits, waists, skirts, lingerie, neckwear, and all feminine furnishings. 
After seven years' experience in this line the custom department was 
abandoned as a loss rather than a profit. The unreasonable demands 
of customers made it impossible to fix prices which would insure 
profits, while continuous leakage in the workroom, due to the im- 
possibility of personal supervision and the heavy expense of highly 
specialized workers, made the outgo larger than the income. 

The commercialized shop which has abandoned all custom produc- 
tion still usually retains an alteration department for altering gowns 
to fit the buyer. Alteration work does not demand the highest 
creative and artistic ability nor does it usually need young and inex- 
perienced plain sewers and finishers, hence neither highly paid heads 
nor young helpers appear and a greater uniformity of workers and 
wages results. While young and unmarried workers predominate 

1 M. du Marou.ssem d&seribes a similar development in Paris. France, Office du Travail. La Petite 
Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetemeut a Paris, p. 398. 



48 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

in custom dressmaking, the older, middle-aged, married, or widowed 
women predominate in alteration work. The woman who has never 
gotten beyond the ''finisher stage" and who, as a result, can secure 
employment in custom dressmaking only during the rush season, or 
the woman who has had to go to work in middle or in later life with- 
out the specialized training needed for custom work, finds in altera- 
tions an opening within her reach. 1 Alteration work, therefore, pro- 
vides an opportunity which is lacking in the custom shop where origi- 
nality, artistic lines, and adaptability are essential. 

The workroom of the alteration department, which has no direct 
connection with the customer, is usually in some remote part of the 
store. One of the most fashionable ready-to-wear shops in the city 
uses the basement underneath the shop for a workroom. Two small 
windows opening on the sidewalk furnish very inadequate light and 
air. Large furnishing stores or reacty-made clothing houses which 
do not use the basement for salesrooms often have their workrooms 
in the basement. Department stores, however, usually have fairly 
good workrooms on one of the upper floors, where better light and air 
are secured. 

The alteration departments of eight houses of varied types carrying 
ready-made wear exclusively showed a range of from 35 to 125 altera- 
tion workers. The organization of the work and workers varies in 
different establishments. In one of the largest and best women's 
furnishings houses the alteration workers are under the supervision of 
fitters, who preside over individual tables around which work 10 or 
15 alteration hands. In another the fitters never come to the work- 
room at all and the foreman assumes general supervision over the 
work. The alteration hands work about tables on each of which a 
particular kind of work is done, the gown workers, for instance, being 
at one table, skirt workers at another, and coat workers at another. 
In any case the workroom is supervised by a foreman or forewoman 
receiving $20 or more a week. The wages of fitters range from $12 
to $30, one shop reporting $15, another $18, and another $20 as the 
lowest wage. Alteration hands are paid from $7 to $14, while one 
firm reports some beginners at $5 to $6 and another basters at $6, $7, 
or $8. Two establishments have inaugurated the piecework system, 
making a wider range of pay both in rush and dull seasons, and caus- 
ing greater fluctuation in the labor force. Here is seen competition 
among men and women coat workers. Four firms employed men 
with some women finishers on coats, while one employed all women 
because of the inferior social type of men engaged in this work. One 
foreman explained that of men and women working side by side on 
coats the women received $8 to $10, the men $14 to $15. Men, he 

i It is interesting to find M. Aine, Les Patronnes, Employees, et Ouvrieres de l'Habillement a Paris, 
Re7orme Sociale (1S98), Vol. V, pp. 61-76, making a similar statement of the situation in Paris. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 49 

said, could turn out three to four times as much work in a week and 
showed more stability and less effects of nervous strain and overwork. 
Most of the men are foreigners, trained by a long system of appren- 
ticeship and experience, who know the business thoroughly, and hence 
are superior to the woman worker. The heavy work also requires 
exceptional strength, making most women ineligible. 

7. THE MANUFACTURING DRESSMAKER. 

The merchant dressmaker may begin to look farther afield for a 
more general patronage than can be reached in his own city. Increas- 
ing capital and the means of transportation and communication make 
available more attractive and profitable openings elsewhere. He may 
fill orders by mail or by salesmen who sell directly to the customers 
in other cities. This stage calls for a more highly differentiated and 
systematized business management; in other words, it is a stage of 
highly centralized capitalistic production. 

The development of a more than local market may be seen in 
various stages of evolution long before its final and formal appearance 
as centralized capitalistic production exclusively for a general market. 
Virginia Penny wrote in 1863, ''Some dressmakers have kept the 
patterns of ladies in the South and made their dresses for years," 1 
and "A French lady on Broadway had a great run of southern 
custom." 2 

Some of the Boston custom shops even in the stage of transition 
have patrons from Maine and surrounding districts, while one reported 
a New York customer. One of these large shops in Boston caters to 
women in Washington, D. C, and other cities, for whom gowns are 
made and orders filled on measure. A fashionable merchant dress- 
maker of Boston now sends salesmen to the southern winter resorts 
to dispose of the stock ready-to-wear gowns made in her shop. 

A still wider development of a general market is seen in the largest 
women's furnishings store in Boston, which combines a large sales 
department of raw materials, ready-to-wear and ready-made clothing, 
a large custom and retail manufacturing department, and an altera- 
tion department. The department of production has most of the 
characteristics of a factory, with 400 to 500 workers, minute subdi- 
vision of labor, the piecework system, and the most expensive and 
modern labor-saving machinery. The head dressmaker goes abroad 
twice a year for styles, buys models and materials for production, 
meets customers, and plans and designs the gowns. 

A forewoman receiving a weekly wage of $40 hires and supervises 
the working force and superintends the details of production. Fitters 
and head drapers are week workers and receive from $20 to $45. They 

i The Employments of Women, by Virginia Penny, p. 326. • Ibid., p. 326. 

29885°— Bull. 193—16 4 



50 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

have charge of 10 to 20 subordinate workers, drapers receiving from 
$8 to $15 and finishers from $6 to $9. The great body of subordi- 
nates, both machine operators and handworkers, are pieceworkers, 
whose weekly wage depends on two factors, (1) their individual speed 
and (2) the amount of work available. 

The stock is still sold only at retail, to the local market by the 
sales force and in the showrooms of the store and to the general 
market by traveling salesmen and saleswomen. Each one of these 
carries with him through the country a force of 8 to 10 fitters and 
saleswomen and a large stock of models of ready-to-wear garments 
which are displayed to the public in the showrooms of large hotels. 
The general trade is carefully systematized, divided into definite 
districts, and covers a large part of the United States. 

So far as the mass of the working force is concerned all the attri- 
butes of the factory system are realized in this stage of development. 1 
The capitalist employer provides the raw materials, disposes of the 
finished product, and controls all the intermediate processes. The 
costly power and labor-saving machines are the property of the 
employer and are established in the building owned by him. The 
laborer or producer has again reached the original position of the 
dependent in the help or hire system. She provides merely the 
human labor force at the dictation and in accordance with the orders 
of her employer. From the standpoint of the establishment but one 
step remains for the realization of the factory system — the abandon- 
ment of the department of custom work and the introduction of a 
standardized product sold at wholesale for a general market. 

Factory production of the best class of dresses is, however, almost 
negligible hi Boston because of the competition of New York City. 
But two factories making high-class dresses comparable to the product 
of a custom shop and selling wholesale at $18 or more were found at 
the time of the study, one employing a maximum number of 37 and 
the other 228 workers. These two factories made a similar product, 
high-class silk, chiffon, and wash dresses, and each employed one sales- 
man 2 to introduce the samples to retail dealers in New England, be- 
sides maintaining a sales and show room in the factory. Since the 
wholesale manufacturing establishment does not cater to retail trade, 
a salesroom on the street floor is no longer necessary, and the factory 
is usually found hi an upper story of a large business block, reaching 
its patrons through its salesmen and by correspondence. In the 
smaller establishment, with a maximum force of 37, the owner still 
retains the designing and planning of the gowns, employing a man 
cutter at $20 a week and a forewoman at $18 to direct and carry on 
the department of production. In the larger establishment, employ- 

1 See definition of the "factory system," in Principles of Economics, by Seligman, pp. 93, 94. 

2 One employed a saleswoman on the road. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 51 

ing a maximum force of 228, the designing and planning of tlie whole 
output is vested in a man designer at $60 a week for 52 weeks in the 
year. Forewomen at $30, $20, and $18 direct and supervise the 
work of particular sections. The employer in the large factory has 
divorced himself entirely from the actual production and devotes his 
time to the business administration, holding the designer responsible 
for turning out a salable and profitable stock. Machine operators 
who manipulate power machines and hand finishers who put on the 
finishing touches .which the machine can not do constitute two-thirds 
of the working force, earning $5 to $15 a week. 

The small shop employing from 6 to 20 workers is the characteristic 
type (37.1 per cent of the total number of shops) in New York, the 
center of the trade, but employs only 15 per cent of all the workers. 
The larger shop of 2 1 to 50 workers, forming 29 per cent of the total 
number of establishments, employs the largest proportion of workers 
(29.3 per cent). The shops with forces of 51 to 100 and 100 to 250, 
representing 10.5 per cent and 5 per cent respectively of the total 
number of shops employ each 22.5 per cent of the average number 
employed. 1 The two Boston factories, though isolated, are, therefore, 
representative of the prevalent types in the trade. 

This general survey of the dressmakers' trade in Massachusetts 
shows that the trade here is far from being 'chaos," as Miss Black 
concluded it was in London. 2 Although the industry is in a state of 
transition and the simplest forms may be found existing by the side 
of the most complex, and though variations of a local, personal, or 
transitional nature are common, yet fairly general conditions and 
tendencies may be traced. Omitting from consideration the woman 
who makes clothes only for herself or her family, the trade shows a 
continuous development through six fairly well defined stages, i. e., 
the stage of the day worker, of the private dressmaker, the shop of 
the transition stage, the large shop of specialized workers, the mer- 
chant dressmaker, and the manufacturer As no statistics can be 
obtained showing the number of dayworkers, it is not possible to say 
what proportion of the trade belongs to each of the stages. Two 
tendencies are apparent, however. Production under the factory 
system — the stage of the manufacturer — has shown a phenomenal 

i Calculated from United States Census, 1910, Vol. Ill, Manufactures, 219. 

2 "We have now presented a survey of the three trades which we set out to investigate [in London]; and 
looking back upon our assemblage of facts, the word that rises in our mind is chaos. As far as we can 
see, the chief characteristic of these trades is an absence of uniformity. In very few is there parity of pay- 
ments. Over by far the greater part of the field there is not a standard wage and hardly even a current 
wage. Individualism run wild, a lack of coordination, a swelter of persons all striving separately, this is 
the spectacle presented * * * in the higher walks of the bespoke branch of dressmaking; there are 
traces of a customary wage for 'full hands' that once was current but that now is being broken down." 
Makers of our Clothes, by Meyer and Black, p. 143. 

Miss Irwin reaches the contrary conclusion, that "the dressmaking trade [in Glasgow] presents little 
variety in remuneration and conditions of employment.'' Women's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking, 
by Margaret Irwin, Glasgow, 1900, p. 33. 



52 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

growth within the last few decades; and in the custom branches of 
the trade the small and medium-sized shops are disappearing before 
the competition of the domestic or dayworkers on the one side and 
the large shop on the other. 

As the trade passes through these successive stages, the place of 
production shows a continuous movement away from the home 
toward increasingly commercialized and industrialized quarters. 
The size of the working force and to a certain extent the quality of 
the product alter from stage to stage so that each has certain charac- 
teristic conditions as to division of labor and wages paid. The plain 
sewer receives from $6 to $9 a week, this wage remaining about the 
same whether she goes out by the day or works in a specialized shop. 
As the trade develops, more and more specialized workers are added, 
until each department has its head worker, whose wages range from 
$10 to $50 or $60 a week, depending on the degree of responsibility, 
with a force of assistants whose wages range downward to $6 or less 
according to the character of their work. 

The opportunities for young workers to learn the trade vary with 
the different types of shops. In general they are best in the shop of 
moderate size, where the worker is still under the immediate super- 
vision of the employer, where subdivision of labor has not been 
carried to a point which deprives the learner of an all-round training, 
but where the class of the work done enables her to fit herself for the 
higher branches of the trade. The medium-sized shop, however, is 
being crushed out by competition. At best the opportunities for 
acquiring the trade in a shop are limited and unsatisfactory. Modern 
industrial conditions make it doubtful whether a young learner can 
satisfactorily acquire a skilled trade by working at it, and the majority 
doubtless can best secure their training through an outside agency 
which gives the foundation principles of the trade. 



CHAPTER III. 

INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS IN THE TRADE. 

Three problems, the need of capital, competition, and the dif- 
ficulty of securing skilled workers, are vital factors in determining 
the development of the dressmaking trade. These problems should 
be appreciated by educators because they determine the conditions 
and opportunities in the different types of shops and show for what 
pupils must be prepared; by customers because their influence and 
thought may aid in solving them. These problems of capital, com- 
petition and labor appear in varying degrees of intensity in the dif- 
ferent types of shops but must be faced and solved by all. 

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. 

The problem of capital assumes first place among the present-day 
questions of custom dressmaking because it is largely a woman's 
trade which has until recently been mainly a domestic industry, 
so that the importance of businesslike methods and scientific admin- 
istrative system are only beginning to be realized. The passing of 
the dressmaking trade from the primitive stages of a domestic 
character to the industrialized and capitalistic system of production 
is so recent that a large part of the trade is still monopolized by the 
small dressmaker who does not understand business principles nor 
attempt to utilize them in her shop. The small dressmaker, both 
"private" and in the stage of transition, keeps few, if any, records of 
her income or expenditures. The business and administrative 
aspect of the trade is relegated to secondary place, usually with 
unfortunate results. "Why, I have no pay roll," said an employer 
of 14 girls in an injured tone of voice. "When would I ever get time 
to keep it?" "No, I never keep any records of any sort," said 
another. "I never even know whether the cost of a particular 
gown exceeds or is less than the price I have set." Only two of the 
twenty-five shops in the stage of transition visited in Boston showed 
any attempt at separation of the business administration from the 
production. In both, two women as partners conducted the shop, 
one supervising the workroom and one the buying and accounts of 
merchants and customers. 

The growth of the shop and development of the business, however, 
force the dressmaker to delegate clerical work and supervision of 
income and expenses as she has delegated her powers in the work- 

53 



54 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

room. Although some of the smaller shops of specialized workers 
have no records, the occasional young stock girl or "office" girl 
implies the evolution of the bookkeeper who keeps systematic and 
intelligible accounts. In the large shops where a great deal of busi- 
ness is done, a head bookkeeper and one or more assistants are usually 
found, and there may be an office wholly devoted to clerical work. 

Scientific computation of cost of production is still in its infancy, 
however. One shop of twenty-five workers was discovered where an 
itemized account of the time spent by each worker and the ultimate 
cost were recorded on tickets attached to each article made. The 
employer had previously been a head waist draper in a large com- 
mercial dressmaking shop where she had been trained in business 
principles. But such system is unusual even in the large shops. 
A large commercialized shop, conducted under the partnership of a 
successful business woman and her brother, had developed a very 
scientific system of administration by which "we know the cost of the 
air they breathe." The male member of the firm made a careful 
study of cost of time, materials, and production, which was explained 
to the workers when he inaugurated the system of accurately record- 
ing upon an attached ticket the time spent on each article. After 
a year's experiment, however, the plan was abandoned as unprofit- 
able and unnecessary. 

THE PROBLEM OF CAPITAL. 

The problem of capital has a varied significance for the different 
types of dressmakers. Since the itinerant dressmaker goes to the 
home of her employer, she need not consider the problem of rent; 
as her client furnishes all materials, she has no need of credit at stores, 
and as she does not, as a rule, employ assistants, she is not con- 
fronted with a weekly pay roll. If she has a helper, however, as 
she herself is paid by the day, she can easily pay her help. 1 For her, 
therefore, capital is a negligible matter. 

As soon, however, as the dayworker realizes her ambition to have 
a shop of her own — to become a "mistress dressmaker" — the problem 
of sufficient capital becomes an important matter for consideration. 
To pay rent until the business becomes self-supporting, to secure 
credit from stores and extend it to customers, and to meet the weekly 
pay roll, she must have reserve capital. A small private dressmaker 
may avoid the problem of rent by carrying on her trade in her home, 
or, if she has no home, may rent a room or suite of rooms in a business 
block down town. A dressmaker who does a small business usually 
combines living and business quarters as a measure of economy and 
financial necessity. Location is unimportant, as she caters only to 

1 See similar condition reported in France. Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vehe- 
ment ii "Paris, pp. 406-408. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 55 

personal friends who can find her even in a remote or somewhat 
inaccessible spot. The dressmaker of the stage of transition, how- 
ever, seeks a wider clientele, maintains a larger force, and has a 
larger trade, and so makes a larger investment in her business quar- 
ters, not only because the needs of her increased business require it, 
but because a good location and prosperous appearance are good 
business investments. The dressmaker of the large shop of specialized 
workers usually occupies commodious and pretentious quarters in 
the fashionable shopping district. Her large force of workers neces- 
sitates large workrooms; her increased trade necessitates stock rooms, 
and her enlarged clientele requires reception rooms, showrooms and 
fitting rooms. The merchant dressmaker of the commercialized 
shop emphasizes the making and sale of ready-to-wear gowns, the 
disposal of which suggests the advantage of a street floor. Easy 
access and tempting show windows appeal to a still larger clientele, 
attracting the casual buyer or passer as well as regular customers. 
Spacious showrooms and large workrooms in the fashionable shop- 
ping district necessitate heavy expenditures in rent as well as in 
materials and in the weekly pay roll. In each step is seen an increas- 
ing need of capital. Extended credit and scientific business methods 
as well as large capital are essential to cany on the large establish- 
ment, and the woman dressmaker, as has been pointed out, is unusual 
in this stage of the trade. 

The problem of capital is accentuated by the system of extending 
credit which is so common in the business world but which proves 
a serious handicap to the woman dressmaker without a bank account. 
As soon as she opens a shop she is confronted with her patrons' 
demand for credit. The growing custom of furnishing materials 
increases the difficulty. In this day of keen competition the chief 
profits of the custom dressmaker lie in the furnishings bought at 
10 per cent rebate and sold at retail prices to the customer. 1 The 
small dressmaker, however, with little or no reserve capital has only 
30 days' credit at the local stores. If her bill is not paid within 
the specified time, the rebate is lost. Seven of the 27 private dress- 
makers visited in Boston reported customers who insisted on the 
six months' credit system, while others undoubtedly had such cus- 
tomers. A small establishment with limited capital, or none at all, 
is unable to exist on this basis. Customers, moreover, often delay 
payments unnecessarily, seriously handicapping the small dress- 
maker in meeting her own expenses. Those who have automobiles 
and other luxuries can not pay an $80 or $100 dressmaker's bill. 
One customer can not pay her bill because "I am going to Europe 

!Miss Irwin reports a similar statement from the dressmakers of Glasgow. "The mere making does 
not pay. We have to get what profit we can out of trimmings and furnishings." Women's Work in 
Tailoring and T>ressmaking (Glasgow), by Margaret Irwin, p. 34. 



56 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

this summer and must be economical." Another "will not be able 
to pay for these clothes this fall because John is going to college 
this winter and there are so many expenses." "Why, I never real- 
ized that it made any great difference," said a wealthy customer as 
she leisurely wrote out a check for $250 which had caused months 
of worry to her dressmaker. "I just wait from one visit of the 
mailman to the next, hoping for a check," said one dressmaker. 
"That is one of the greatest hardships." 

The matter of credit becomes still more serious for the dressmaker 
in the stage of transition because she makes a wider appeal for 
patronage, which results in more credit customers. She furnishes 
the materials to an increasing extent, and her enlarged force in- 
creases the running expenses and weekly pay roll, which necessitates 
ready capital. She does not carry a stock of materials, as does the 
dressmaker of the stage of specialization, but her patrons choose 
from samples which she secures from the stores. This custom, as 
well as the other phases of development observed in this stage, is 
in a state of transition, some dressmakers insisting on furnishing 
the materials, some leaving the choice with the customer, and some 
furnishing only the trimmings. The furnishing of materials yields 
a profit, but intensifies the difficulty of extending credit, for the 
dressmaker invests a large proportion of her capital in the product, 
and delay on the part of her customer involves her in financial diffi- 
culties with the furnishings stores. 1 Reports from 11 of the 25 estab- 
lishments of the transition stage visited in Boston revealed financial 
difficulties resulting from the long credit system. The case of a young 
dressmaker, formerly a $25 waist draper in a large fashionable estab- 
lishment, who recently opened up a small shop in a back room with 
a capital of $350, illustrates this point. Her business was at first 
necessarily done on a cash basis. She had to pay cash for her pur- 
chases and her customers must do the same. By the beginning of 
the second year she had drawn enough of her previous customers 
from her former place to enable her to take larger quarters and a 
larger force. She was now able to secure extended credit from 
women's furnishings establishments, but she catered to customers 
who paid once in six months or "still more commonly once a year." 
In her second year she was doing an annual business of $12,000, 
but had $4,000 in outstanding bills of six months' duration. 

"Regular customers pay twice a year," said one of these dress- 
makers. "Customers have often come and ordered a gown when 
it was impossible for me to take the order because I had no money 
or credit to obtain the materials to fill the order." "Customers are 

i One of the dressmakers of Paris reported that one of the three greatest obstacles to her success was 
the discrediting of rebates on bills, caused by the delay of her clientele, which robbed her of the greatest 
part of the profits. France, Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetement a Paris, p. 423. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 57 

slow to pay their bills and some fail altogether," said another. 
"Last year we lost $600 in outstanding bills. We had one customer 
for whom we worked 20 years. She was wealthy — her husband 
made money fast — but her bill with us reached $2,300, $200 to 
$300 of which dated back to 1904. Finally we refused to make 
anything more until the bill was paid to date. We finally got the 
last of the amount this fall, but offended and lost the customer." 
Some of the more independent small dressmakers are refusing to 
cater to credit customers. One employer who has been in the 
trade for 30 years reduced her clientele to those who pay cash, 
and as a result cut her force and custom down to one-third its 
former size, but secured results more satisfactory to herself. An- 
other einplo} T er with sufficient capital in outstanding bills was 
forced to close shop because of inability to meet running expenses. 
In the meantime an order came for some expensive work from a 
wealthy customer. "I should be glad to do the work for you," 
said the dressmaker, ''but must ask that payment be made on 
completion of the work." The order was immediately withdrawn. 

The majority of dressmakers of this type manage with some 
reserve capital in the bank, credit with large firms, and a sufficient 
number of cash or three-months'-credit customers to meet satisfac- 
torily their running expenses, though large profits are lost through 
lack of capital in hand. 

The large shop of specialized workers does business almost wholly 
on a credit basis. The largest and most prosperous firms buy their 
materials from European importers who allow three, six, or more 
months' credit according to the standing of the local firm, while the 
customers of such shops pay once in 6, 12, or 18 months. ''Large 
capital or a very good credit and wide acquaintance are absolutely 
necessary," said the manager of a large commercial dressmaking 
shop. "The custom of paying bills once a year or once in 18 months 
is quite general. We send out a statement the first of each month 
to certain customers and usually can collect 87 per cent of the bills 
within three months. Some may not pay within a year or 18 months, 
but we don ? t bother them with statements. We know their money 
comes in slowly, but they are perfectly sound and reliable. We 
have one customer whose bill for this year amounts to $2,200. We 
can't afford to offend these customers. They are sure pay, but they 
don't like to pay more than once a year, and then they send in a 
check for the full amount without the least effort. The rich people 
are the ones who allow bills to run the longest. Although this is 
true in many businesses, I believe it is worse in dressmaking than in 
anything else." 



58 BULLETIX OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

The capital problem is thus one of the most serious problems of the 
trade for all types of shops. Reserve capital is necessary to meet the 
immediate expenses, such as rent, light, and wages. Credit is neces- 
sary to secure materials and furnishings in advance. The system of 
giving credit established by the large firms is one of the most effective 
weapons against small establishments, which can not exist on this 
basis. 

"Why don't you inaugurate a 30 days' credit system like the 
stores?" asked the investigator of a great number of dressmakers. 
"That would be impossible," was the reply. "Our customers would 
simply leave and go to some one who would grant the long credit." 
Cooperative action alone could solve this great problem of long credit 
for the majority of dressmakers. Some, because of their independ- 
ence of spirit, individual capacity and ability, can set the terms upon 
which they will work for their customers, but the majority are not 
able to do this alone. A small Boston dressmaker declared her 
intention of starting out anew next year and informing customers 
that interest would be charged on outstanding bills, but the result 
is questionable in a trade so dependent on the client's good will. The 
large shops, however, are able to meet the difficulty by fixing a 
"contract price" which is made sufficiently large to cover all such 
delays. 

Unfortunately the hardships of the capital problem reach beyond 
the dressmaker to her employees, especially in the small and medium- 
sized shops where the bank account is limited. The small employer 
with no reserve capital can pay her girls only as her bills are paid. 
Three or four weeks often go by without payment. Sometimes the 
employer pays part of their week's wage to pacify them. One girl 

said ' ' We used to go to Mrs. and ask if we might at least have 

car fare." "How can I pay you," her employer answered, "until 
my customers pay me?" It does not seem possible that the small 
dressmaker who does not keep a pay roll can remember whom, when, 
and how much she has paid, and under these circumstances disputes 
frequently result over the amount due. The financial difficulties of 
a medium-sized shop are illustrated in the accompanying pay-roll 
record taken for two periods, one in 1905-6 and one in 1910-11. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



59 



Table 12.— WEEKLY PAY ROLLS OF A DRESSMAKER WITHOUT LARGE RESERVE 
CAPITAL, FOR THE YEARS 1905-6 AND 1910-11. 







1905-6 






1910-11 




Week of the month. 


X umber 

em- 
ployed. 


Amount 
paid to 
workers. 


Amount 
remaining 

due 
workers. 


Number 

em- 
ployed. 


Amount 
paid to 

workers. 


Amount 
remaining 

due 
workers. 


September: 


2 
7 
11 
12 

12 
13 
13 
13 
12 

13 
13 
13 
13 

13 

12 

11 

4 






2 

10 
11 
10 

10 
11 
14 
14 
14 

15 
16 
17 
17 

16 
15 
15 
14 




$4.82 






S20. 92 
33.25 
35.08 

50.50 
35.00 
41.50 
43.00 
62.50 

74. 50 

77.17 
77.00 
140.98 

75.34 
59.67 
55. 92 
17.67 
11.67 

4.91 




36.19 




$68. 08 
76.70 

51.92 
93.08 
74.00 
76.08 


$98. 59 
70.25 

75.22 
66.83 
63.67 
78.92 
54.73 

124. 67 
97. 25 
61. 17 
53.50 

170. 67 
116.74 
L36.08 
109. 25 








October: 




2d week 


10.00 




13.00 




55. S3 




96.83 


November: 




80.16 




81.33 
77.09 


93.16 


3d week 


134.80 




188. 33 


December: 


119.0''. 
83.25 
73. 25 
54.61 
5.00 

63.50 
75.63 
53. 08 
52.33 
13.54 

30.00 
79.50 
54.02 
73.25 

93.35 
70.89 
38.67 
46.58 
13.67 

71.12 
44. 25 
62.87 
91.45 
22.25 

124. 79 
82. 67 
57. 80 

104. 74 
25.00 

95.67 
56. 42 
68. 00 
21.35 

85.50 
74. 67 
159.83 
50.35 
2.00 


127. 16 




124.75 




104. 33 




78.33 






January: 


9 
10 
10 
10 

9 

9 
9 

7 
12 

14 
13 
14 
15 


14 

13 
13 

13 

12 

11 
11 
11 
13 

13 
14 
14 
13 


106. S3 
97.67 
93.33 
92. 66 
83.66 

83.00 

163. OS 

11.00 

78.98 

si. os 
72.74 
92. 25 
88.08 


78.00 




77.00 


3d week 


5.50 
17.00 
58.00 

90.00 
104. 25 
102. 57 

89.93 

99.08 
86.70 
129. 71 

151.85 
12.33 

121. 36 
161. 99 
191. 60 
199. 88 
225. 12 

215. 50 
236. 67 
232. 00 
231. 50 


75.00 


4 th week 


78.00 




80.00 


February: 


81. 00 




3.00 


3d week 


27.09 




38.09 


March: 


40. 09 




11.84 




47.00 




56.00 






April: 

1st week 


11 
15 
15 
12 
3 

13 
14 
13 
13 


14 
14 
14 

14 


107. 33 
99. 00 
100. 50 
106. 25 


53.00 




46. 33 




34.60 




51.00 






May: 


13 
13 
13 
13 
13 

13 
13 
13 
13 

12 
9 

5 


89.33 
102. 50 
107. 50 
137. 00 

86.83 

96.50 
91.66 
107. 50 
99.50 

61.51 
38.50 

12.50 


50. 50 




51. 00 




45.00 


4th week 


6.00 




4.00 


June: 

1st week 


12 
12 
12 
12 

10 
8 
8 
5 
2 


194. 08 
217. 83 
200. 76 
254. 57 

228. 89 

217. 72 

33.00 

.50 


5.00 




2.00 










July: 








3d week 


























48 weeks. 






47 weeks. 









The owner opened a shop in a business building about 15 years ago 
and has at present a force of 10 to 15 workers, the majority of whom 
began with her as young learners. In 1905-6, when the first pay-roll 
record was taken, she had been in business 10 years. Yet there was 



60 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



a deficit in the weekly pay roll every week of the 48 except 2. The 
amount remaining due exceeded the amount of wages paid in more 
than one-half of the 48 weeks worked. By 1910, five years later, she 
was on a somewhat better financial basis. There was no deficit on 
the pay roll 9 of the 47 weeks the shop was open, and the amount 
remaining due exceeded the wage paid in only six (12.9 per cent) of 
the 47 weeks worked. 

In 1905-6 the deficit in the pay roll shows two peaks, one in Novem- 
ber and one in May. These correspond to the heights of the dress- 
making season, and are due to the fact that few people pay their bills 
until their wardrobe is complete, but the money begins to come in as 
the finished gowns are sent out. In 1910-11, the fall peak still oc- 
curred in November, but in the spring March shows the greatest 
deficit. 

The significance of this situation to the individual girl is shown by 
the weekly wage record of a $10 (later $12) draper working in the 
shop. 



Table 13. 



-WAGES PAID AND DUE A $10 DRAPER (RAISED TO 812 IN 1910-11) WORKING 
IN THE SHOP OF THE PRECEDING DRESSMAKER. 

[Based on pay roll.] 





1905-6 




1910-11 


- 


Week of the month. 


Number 
of days 
worked 

per week. 


Amount. 


Number 
of days 
worked 

per week. 


Amount. 




raid. 


Owed. 


Paid. 


Owed. 


September: 






i 
















3 
6 

6 
6 
6 
6 
6 

6 
6 
6 
5 

5J 
4" 
6 
4 




$5.00 
5.00 

9.00 

8.00 
11.00 
11.00 
20.00 

23.00 
20.00 
20.00 
28.33 

25.50 
16.17 
26.17 
10.00 
11.07 


5 
6 

6 
5 
6 

5* 
oh 

5* 
6" 
5 
6 

5J 
6 
6 
6 


$10. 00 
' 12.00 

12.00 

10.00 
5.00 
8.50 
3.00 

14.00 

12.00 

5.00 

2.00 

20.00 
15.00 
14.00 
14.00 






$10. 00 

6.00 
11.00 

7.00 
10.00 

1.00 

7.00 
10.00 
10.00 




October: 










$7.00 




10.00 




18.00 


November: 


15.00 




15.00 




20.00 




30.00 


December: 


12.00 
16.00 

5.50 
16. 17 

5.00 

15.00 
15.00 
8.33 
8.33 
5.00 

2.00 
10. 00 

6.67 
10.00 

1.00 
15.00 


21.00 




18.00 




16.00 




12.00 






January : 


5 
6 
5 
5 
6 

6 
6 
5 
6 

6 
4 
6 
6 


6 

6* 
6 

4i 

5 

5f 

2 

6 

6 
5 
6 
6 


12.00 
11.50 
12.00 
12.00 
11.00 

8.00 
24.00 


12.00 






12.00 






12.00 






12.00 




5.00 

13.00 
13.00 
15.00 
15. 00 

24.00 
9.00 
19.00 
32.67 


10.00 


February : 


12.00 








4.00 




8.00 

10.00 
10.00 
10.00 
12.00 


4.00 


March: 


10.00 




10.00 




12.00 


4th week 


3.00 


12.00 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



61 



Table 13. 



-WAGES PAID AND DUE A $10 DRAPER (RAISED TO S12 IN 1910-11) WORKING 
IN THE SHOP OF THE PRECEDING DRESSMAKER— Concluded. 





1905-6 




1910-11 




Week of the month. 


Number 
of days 
worked 

per week. 


Amount. 


Number 
of days 
worked 

per week. 


Amount. 




Paid. 


Owed. 


Paid. 


Owed. 


April: 


5J 

6 
6 
4f 
6 

6 
6 
6 
5 


$11.00 

1.00 

4.00 

11.67 


$32. 67 
43.67 
51.67 
51.50 
61.50 

60.00 
66.00 
72.00 
72.00 



5 

4 \ 
6 


$12. 00 
12. 00 
10.00 
10.00 


$12.00 




10.00 




9.00 




11.00 






May: 


15.50 
6.00 
6.00 

10.00 


5 
6 
6 
6 
3 

5 

5 
6 
5 

4 

4 
6 
3 


10.00 
11.00 
12.00 
18.00 
8.00 

9.00 
15. 00 
12.00 
10.00 

S.00 

8.00 

12.00 


11.00 




12.00 




12.00 




6.00 




4.00 


June: 


6 
6 
5 
6 

5 
5 
6 
51 

H 


9.00 
12.00 


73.00 
73.00 
SI. 33 
91.33 

93.00 
90.00 
50.00 


5.00 
















July: 


12.00 
13.00 
52.00 
61.50 
7.00 


























Total 


253 


457. 67 




240H 


471.00 











In 1905-6 there were only 6 weeks in the 46 when her employer was 
not in debt to her. In the last week of June and in the first two weeks 
of July her weekly arrears in wage were at least $90. In 1910-1 1 the 
improvement in the financial condition of her employer resulted in 
better conditions for the workers. Twelve of the 45 weeks showed 
no deficit and the weekly arrears in wage reached the maximum of $30. 

The customer of the small dressmaker, therefore, has a serious obli- 
gation which she often does not recognize, because she does not realize 
the far-reaching effects of her negligence or failure to pay her bills 
promptly. The girl ultimately bears the brunt, for her employer, with 
no reserve capital, can pay her girls only as her own bills are paid. 
The large shops with reserve capital, for this reason, offer another 
strong inducement to the girl, for the advantage of a regular weekly 
wage often counterbalances the advantages of a longer season. On 
this basis alone, the large shops compete seriously with the small 
dressmaker. 

THE PROBLEM OF COMPETITION. 

Capital, credit, and cost and character of product form the basis 
of the struggle for existence carried on by the custom dressmaker 
versus the wholesale manufacturer, the large custom shop versus the 
small, and the woman dressmaker versus the man tailor, and this 
struggle forms the second great industrial problem in dressmaking — 
competition. The development of the ready-made wear has had two 



62 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

definite results — (1) decreasing the amount and (2) changing the kind 
of work done by the dressmaker. The scope of business of the private 
and of the transitional dressmaker is now largely limited to fancy 
and lingerie dresses and to alterations of custom or ready-made wear. 
"Most of the work left to dressmakers is the making of fancy gowns, 
and work for people not of regulation size and figure/' said a private 
dressmaker. "Some of my old customers now depend altogether on 
ready-made wear. Others may have one fancy gown made in a 
year." By the irony of fate, a large part of the work which has 
passed out of the hands of the dressmaker into the factory comes 
back to her to be altered to fit the customer. "We altered the 
prettiest little silk dress this afternoon," said a forewoman in a 
dressmaking shop. "The customer bought it down town for $18. 
We couldn't have made one like it for less than $35 or $40." 

While the large manufacturer has competed most seriously with 
the dressmaker doing a small or medium-sized business, the increasing 
perfection of. the ready-made product is resulting in its adoption by 
the wealthier classes. Custom work, because more expensive, must 
maintain its position chiefly by superiority of product. While the 
small dressmaker has only this weapon, the large custom dressmaker 
is adopting other methods of maintaining her position by introducing 
variety as well as superiority of product— a movement which explains 
the growth of the large shop. Some 8 to 10 employers in Boston have 
faced squarely the popularity of the ready-made wear and added a 
department of ready-to-wear or ready-made. Since the prevalence and 
popularity of the tailored street suits transferred to the ladies' tailor 
a large proportion of the high-grade custom tailored work, the large 
dressmaker is meeting this situation by adding a department con- 
ducted by men tailors or by making some combination with a man 
tailor. Thus the large shop is meeting all its competitors by adopt- 
ing their own weapons. 

The small dressmaker can compete with the large custom dress- 
maker because of smaller expenses and lower prices. While the 
dressmaker doing a moderate business is being crowded out, the 
importance of the day and home worker in the trade has been already 
noted. M. du Maroussem was convinced of the increasing importance 
of the small dressmakers in France and pointed out three factors 
which were facilitating this development: First, the great furnish- 
ings stores put at the disposal of the patrons quite as wide a choice of 
materials as do the great dressmaking establishments; second, the 
journals of the modes furnish the artistic idea and provide the intel- 
lectual part of the task for the most humble dressmakers; and third, 
the pattern houses perform the same service in a less public way. 
To this list might be added a fourth factor in the American situation — 
the importation of European models. The importers are bringing 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 63 

about a remarkable democratization of the trade, and, as a member 
of a large Boston firm explained, are helping the smallest dressmaker, 
if clever and ingenious, to become a serious competitor of the largest 
establishment. 

The increasing popularity of the tailored street suit has made the 
man tailor an important competitor, for it is generally admitted that 
men excel in heavy tailored work. The small tailor who does his 
own work can underbid the dressmaker who must employ a tailor. 
The large tailors are gradually adding waist departments and dress- 
making for the convenience of their customers and for the equaliza- 
tion of the seasonal fluctuation through a wider variety of product. 

''The competition of the ready-made and ready-to-wear of the Jewish 
tailors and of small dressmakers who turn out work for lower prices 
is making a serious invasion on high-class large establishments," 
said the owner of a high-class shop. "It is only within the last few 
years — the era of the importer— that they have appeared on the 
scene as serious competitors. Now that importers bring the Euro- 
pean models to New York twice a year, the small manufacturer and 
small dressmaker and tailor can see the styles and get the ideas just 
as well as the large firms who have gone to Europe to get them. 
They can turn out the product at much less cost because they do not 
maintain the pretentious establishments and specialized workers of 
the large shops." 

Dressmakers of suburban cities have an additional problem in 
competition. Wealthy people of Worcester, Cambridge, and Somer- 
ville go to Boston for their better costumes. Not only the large 
stores offering high-class ready-made and ready-to-wear, but large 
custom dressmakers as well, draw the trade away from the home city. 
Little need or opportunity for the development of high-class dress- 
making therefore exists. The prestige of fashionable Boston estab- 
lishments makes impossible high charges in the smaller centers. ''We 
could do just as good work as the Boston shops," said a Worcester 
dressmaker, ''but we can't ask half the price." The statement was 
well borne out by a wealthy woman, who said ''I had a suit made at 

in Boston this fall which cost $100. I could have gotten it 

for half the price in Worcester, if 1 hadn't been in a hurry and had to 
have it in a few days." Department stores and mail-order houses 
also secure the trade of the less prosperous. This competition, there- 
fore, forces the dressmaking trade in these cities to remain largely in 
the elementary stages of the trade. 

The lack of development in Lowell is due to a different cause. 
Lowell is a mill city with a large population and with large invest- 
ment of capital, but the capitalists do not five in Lowell, and the 
population which resides there creates small demand for high-class 
work. 



64 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

Thus the dressmaking trade in small cities shows little develop- 
ment for various reasons, which may be summed up in the one 
reason, lack of demand. 

The two great industrial problems — capital and competition — are 
the barriers which are retarding and changing the current of develop- 
ment. 

The women's clothing trade, which has longest retained its domes- 
tic character, has within the last two or three decades been brought 
sharply face to face with the industrial development and organization 
of the twentieth century. Capital and credit have become essential 
for existence for all but the dayworker and assume increasing impor- 
tance with the increasing size of the shop. The small dressmaker 
has only a limited credit, and must have reserve capital to meet 
running expenses. Large establishments have long credit, but have 
enormous current expenses, necessitating large available capital. 
The extension of credit to customers has become so thoroughly estab- 
lished that there are few shops which do not have a large or small 
number of credit customers. The small and medium-sized shops are 
collapsing under this system. The large shops, though often seriously 
inconvenienced, can use the credit system as a powerful weapon 
against the small competitor. 

THE LABOR FORCE. 

Besides the problems of capital and competition the recruiting of 
workers has become one of the most serious questions whioh face the 
employer in the dressmaking trade, for the disappearance of the 
apprenticeship system and of opportunities for learning the trade in 
the shop, together with the increasing demand for skill and artistic 
ability, are leaving both employer and worker in a practically unten- 
able position. These conditions within the trade, together with the 
great increase in the number and variety of openings for women 
workers, have left the trade commonly regarded as peculiarly belong- 
ing to women almost stranded for lack of good workers. 

The scarcity of skilled workers menaces the dressmaking trade in 
Boston. The labor situation in a city like Worcester seems to be less 
acute than in a larger city like Boston. The large employers of 
Worcester say they seldom take on a new worker, holding their regu- 
lar force year after year, and some of their workers have been with 
them 10, 14, and even 18 years. One employer of 12 girls has not 
taken on a new girl for 5 or 6 years, and some girls have been with her 
14 years. The greater stability of the force in such a city is due to 
the longer seasons, to the fact that comparatively few shops employ 
help, giving little opportunity for shifting from one to another, and 
to the fewer opportunities in other lines of work for the girl who feels 
superior to the factory. 



DKESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOE WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



65 



The scarcity of skilled workers, however, is noticeable there as in 
other cities. Seventeen of the eighteen regular employers complained 
of the great scarcity of workers. The superintendent of a large store 
which conducts a custom dressmaking department said he could "get 
plenty of fitters in the dressmakers who have had to give up business 
because of inability to get efficient help, but I have had an advertise- 
ment in the paper for a head sleeve girl for a week, and no one has 
even applied." Another dressmaker, who used to keep several assist- 
ants, can not get satisfactory help anywhere at present, so only does 
such work as she can manage herself. "Many dressmakers who used 
to do a big business," she said, "have given it up for lack of workers, 
and now go out by the day." 

How are these workers recruited? Advertisements in the news- 
papers, placards in doors and windows, and passing the word through 
employees to their friends are the most common methods. 

TABLE 14 METHOD OF SECURING POSITIONS AS REPORTED BY WORKERS 

THEMSELVES. 

[Based on personal interviews.] 



Method of securing position. 


Workers using specified 
methods. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Personal relation: 


05 
18 
16 
7 
















Total 






106 

39 

40 

8 

124 


33.5 

12.3 
12.6 
2.5 

39.1 












317 


100.0 





While 39.1 per cent of the positions reported by workers visited 
were secured through the Boston Trade School for Girls, this means 
is open to only a small proportion of the workers as a whole, the large 
number here shown being because all graduates of this school were fol- 
lowed up. 1 The personal relation, hearing of and securing a position 
through friend, relative, or friendly forewoman, seems to be the most 
common method for the more stable workers, 33.5 per cent of the 317 
positions reported by workers visited having been secured by this 
means. Advertisements, application (on seeing a sign in the window or 
by chance), and the employment agency are rather the resort of the 
drifters and less competent workers or strangers and new workers, 
27.4 per cent of the 317 positions being secured through this means. 

1 Eighty-four graduates, who had been trained in dressmaking, were interviewed. 
29S85"— Bull. 193—16 5 



66 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

Good -workers are so scarce that, once having demonstrated their 
ability, they have small need of outside agencies to secure work for 
them. 

These methods of recruiting the working force result in a motley 
assemblage of aspirants, so employers say. "I advertised the other 
day for four girls," said one employer, " and about four dozen applied. 
I tried four, but they are not much good." "American girls are still 
going into dressmaking," said a French dressmaker, "but they don't 
seem to have sufficient fundamental training and experience. They 
make so many serious blunders and ruin beautiful materials by care- 
lessness and awkwardness. A woman of 36 came to the shop the 
other day, and I took her on at $1 a day. She could not do any- 
thing well. Custom dressmaking can exist only by putting out a 
product superior to the ready-made wear." "There are many old 
women going about applying at shops for work. They give a long 
list of places where they have worked. They are absolutely inefficient, 
and I have to do the work over after them." 

The most promising applicants are engaged, although personally 
unknown to the employer. He usually asks some questions regarding 
former positions, but gives little heed to the answers. " We can't fol- 
low up the references the girls give us," said one. "We would not 
get anything else done." The girls frankly admit that they always 
" tell a good story." "If I was getting $7 a week at my last place, I tell 
the next employer I was getting $S," said one girl. The girls are en- 
gaged on the spot. If they prove competent and faithful workers, 
every inducement is offered to hold them; if not, they are dismissed at 
the earliest possible moment. Where the forewomen and head girls 
remain fairly stable and permanent and when they are women of tact, 
consideration, and administrative ability, the trade does not suffer- as 
much as might be expected from this haphazard method, but where 
such conditions do not prevail the workroom is sometimes chaotic. 1 

The labor force may be classified into three groups, (1) the nucleus 
or core of the force, which is employed throughout the shop season, 
(2) the finishers and helpers, who are an essential part of the force 
but are laid off twice a year in dull seasons, and (3) the "rush hands" 
who are taken on only during the height of the rush season to aid in 
getting out on schedule time the work which rapidly accumulates for 
immediate completion. 2 The core of the force, which works about 40 
weeks or more, the characteristic season, constituted but 21.8 per cent 
of the 600 custom workers and a still smaller proportion, 15.3 per 

i This haphazard method of securing workers is described by M. Aine as the prevailing situation in Paris. ' 
Les Patronnes, Employees, et Ouvrieres de 1'Habillement a Paris, par Aine, en Reforme Sociale (189S), 
Vol. V, p. 68. 

* M. du Maroussem describes the three classes as (1) "ouvrieres du noyau," who have an average working 
season of 260 to 300 days a year; (2) "ouvrieres de la categorie intermediaire," who average 200 to 230 days; 
and (3) "ouvrieres supplementaires," who average from 60 to 160 days. France, Office du Travail. La ' 
Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le Vetement a Paris, p. 494. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS, 



(V 



cent, of the 522 factory workers studied from pay rolls. In the cus- 
tom shops this core forms a varying proportion ranging from 9.4 per 
cent in shop A to 55.2 per cent in shop F, but a median of 26.2 per 
cent appears in the 14 custom shops studied intensively. 1 The stable 
portion of the working force, therefore, constitutes a much larger 
proportion in custom than in factory dressmaking, where the median 
of the two shops studied is 17.2 per cent. 

This nucleus force comprises the workers necessary for production, 
but all are not necessarily the highly paid. Waist, skirt, and sleeve 
workers, and tailors, where employed, are necessary in the nucleus 
force, while the head workers are usually retained through the shop 
season. A few of the less skilled receiving less than $10 a week also 
secure the long season. 

Table 15.-OCCUPATION AND WAGE OF NUCLEUS FORCE IX FOUR LARGE CUSTOM 

SHOPS. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Case 


Shop A. 


Shop B. 


Shop C. 


Shop P. 


ber. 


Occupation. 


Wage. 


Occupation. 


Wage. 


Occupation. 


Wage. 


Occupation. 


Wage. 


1 
2 

:j 

4 


Head fitter 

Head tailor. . . 
Cutter and 

fitter. 
Tailor 


$30 
30 
25 

21 

18 

18 
16 

14 
12 

10 
9 
8 


Head fitter.... 
Head waist. . . 
Head skirt 

Coat tailor 

do 

do 

W T aist draper.. 

do 

Head sleeve 

draper. 
Office 


545 
30 
24 

22 
21 

21 
16 

16 
16 

15 

15 

14 

11 

12 

12 

11 

11 

11 

11 

10 

10 

10 
9 
8J 
8J 
8 
8 
8 
7* 
6" 


Forewoman. . . 
Head coat 
Waist draper. . 

Head skirt 

Head sleeve... 

Waist finisher. 
Machine 

operator. 
Waist finisher. 
Coat tailor 

Skirt finisher.. 
Waist finisher. 

do 

Stock 


825 
15 
13 

13 
12 

11 

10 

10 
10 

7J. 

7 
6 


Waist draper.. 

do 

Skirl draper... 

Waist finisher. 
Skirt finisher.. 

Waist finisher. 
Skirt helper. . . 

Stock 


$19 
19 
17 

13 


5 
6 


Head skirt 

draper. 
Fitter 


12A 
12 


8 


Waist draper.. 

Sleeve draper . 
Shopper 

Designer 

Waist draper.. 


10 
10 


9 
10 


Waist helper.. 

do 

do 


9 

7 


11 


Coat 


6 


12 


Skirt 




13 


do 






14 














15 






do 






16 






Office 




:::::::::: 




17 










i 




13 










:::::::::::::::::::::::: 




ID 














20 






do 










21 






Skirt 










22 
















23 
















24 






Sleeve 

Waist 










25 














26 






Skirt 










27 
















28 






Office 








29 










i 




30 






Skirt 


















i ' 





The less skilled workers form a varying proportion of the nucleus 
force, being 16.7 per cent in shop A, 26.7 per cent in shop B, 27.3 per 
cent in shop D, and 35.7 per cent in shop C. The medium-skilled 
workers can, in small numbers, thus obtain long working seasons in 
[the large shop, a situation which enables a limited number to profit 

1 See Table 30. Those working 35 to 40 weeks in shops D and N are considered the core. 



68 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 

by the opportunities there offered for wider experience and advance- 
ment. Needless to sa}^, those who are thus retained are the most 
valuable and promising workers. 

The second group of finishers and helpers, who are an essential part 
of the force but have two distinct seasons, constitute about 20 per 
cent of the force in custom dressmaking, and only about one-tenth 
(11.5 per cent) of the factory workers. The third group, the drifters 
and rush hands, working less than six months, claims the largest 
proportion of workers in both branches, more than one-half (58.2 per 
cent) of the custom workers and almost three-fourths (73.2 per cent) 
of the factory workers. An element of error enters into this figure 
which can not be checked up definitely because the group necessarily 
includes also those who left in the middle of the year because of 
illness, to be married, because of a quarrel with the forewoman, or 
because of some personal reason, but the proportions are probably 
approximate. 

Three reasons are most frequently heard from workers for their 
choice of this trade as an occupation : natural taste and inclination, 
knowledge acquired at school, and advice of family or friends. 
Almost one-half (41.5 per cent) of the 200 women visited went into 
the trade because they had a natural taste for it and had always 
sewed at home. "It just came natural. I knew how to sew ever 
since I was a little girl, and always sewed at home," was the general 
statement, or "I just naturally knew how to sew. I wanted to get 
into some business with an opportunity for use and development." 
"I came to Boston, wishing to get office work," said one. "I could 
not get a place; sewing was natural to me, so I went into a dress- 
making shop." This is frequently the reason influencing the woman 
suddenly thrown upon her own resources, who naturally turns to 
the work for which she has some natural capacity. "My husband 
died, and I must support myself and children," said a woman of 40. 
"I owned a little store, but I couldn't make it pay so I went into a 
large dressmaking shop where I run a power machine." "I have no 
father," said a young girl, "and I wanted to help put my small sister 
through school. I naturally took up the thing I liked and could do 
best." Some (10 per cent) had learned the fundamentals of sewing 
at school, either in the public school, private school, or convent, and 
naturally utilized the one accomplishment which could be turned to 
money-making. Many children who would otherwise have to go to 
work at 14 may be sent to a trade school at some sacrifice if they can 
within a limited time prepare themselves for a trade.. 

Initiative or advice of family or friends is also an important in- 
fluence in determining a girl's career. The dressmaking trade, like 
millinery, carries a certain prestige not accorded other industries 
because it has an apparent relation to woman's much-talked-of 



m 

DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 69 

sphere, because of the type of product, place and conditions under 
which the work is done, and because the social level is generally higher 
than that of factories. Parents, therefore, frequently determine 
for the girl that she shall be a dressmaker just as those of a higher 
social level decide the daughter shall become a teacher, because it is 
the ' ' genteel" thing to do. " The family think it much nicer work for 
a girl than the factory." "Mother thinks it is the nicest trade for 
women." The prejudice against "the factory" in the families of the 
middle class of Boston and surrounding cities is a problem which has 
frequently baffled the directors of trade schools and vocational 
bureaus for girls. 

Since the small wage and short season of the young worker brings 
a very small income, one is curious to know from what type of family 
these young workers come. For dressmaking is a trade which assumes 
a professional character and necessitates years of training and ex- 
perience, and the majority of its workers, when entering the trade, 
must not of necessity be economically dependent on the trade itself, 
this being true of any occupation of a semiprofessional nature. The 
parent of the $4 and $5 worker ranges as to occupation from the 
laborer to the professional man, but the family income in the majority 
of cases is not large, and the nominal annual income of the young $5 
worker ranges only from $152 to $238. 

Yet the parents were putting their daughters into a seasonal trade 
which requires some years of experience before an adequate wage 
can be earned. Five girls contributed to the family income by turn- 
ing their entire wage over to the mother, while others contributed 
something to the family and met part of their own expenses from their 
wage. 

The attitude of the parents is, however, expressed by an Italian 
girl of 15 on a weekly wage of $5 who lived in a miserably dirty brick 
tenement house in a very poor neighborhood. "Mother likes dress- 
making as a trade," she said. "She knows about the long vacations. 
It is hard for her if the children are out of work, and if they can find 
something to do she likes it better. But if not, she is willing that 
they should be at home." A girl of 17 on a $4 wage lived in a neat 
but poorly furnished home with her mother. She "had thought of 
bookkeeping, but mother didn't like the idea of girls working in 
offices, so when I couldn't finish high school, she wished me to learn 
dressmaking. I always liked sewing." The parents of these girls, 
while realizing the long period of apprenticeship and semidependence 
involved, often make the effort to give their daughters a training 
which they believe will give them "a good trade." 

Whatever the motive for entering the trade, the woman who goes 
into a skilled trade does so because she has some taste or capacity 
for that kind of work or because she sees in it the opportunity for a 



70 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 

profession. In this respect the worker in the skilled trade differs 
from the one in unskilled trades, who is very apt to have left school 
to go to work as soon as the law allowed, without any special guidance 
or inherent fitness for work. Proximity to a factory or an opening 
obtained through mother, father, brother, or sister who has worked 
there before seems to be the determining influence in the question of 
the factory child's future. 1 

But dressmaking does not invite the young girl just out of school 
with wide-open doors as do the unskilled trades, and for the same rea- 
son offers little opportunity to the old woman, because it is an art 
and a skilled trade which excludes the two extremes. One per cent 
of the 200 personally visited were under 16 years of age, though less 
than one-third of 1 per cent were reported as in this age group for 
the United States as a whole; 12.5 per cent of the 200 visited were 
under 18 years of age and but 8.5 per cent over 40. The census 
reports a large percentage of older women because of the "fact that 
dressmaking can be pursued at home by women whose household 
duties do not permit them to participate in shop or factory work," : 
and all census returns by occupations necessarily include the women 
who go out by the day, who are women of more maturity and expe- 
rience. 3 But since this study attempts to deal only with the profes- 
sional worker and primarily the worker in the shop, the domestic 
worker has not been included and the dayworker only as a means 
of comparison. The majority of shop workers are neither very young 
nor very old. Sixty per cent of the 200 visited were under 25 
years of age and four-fifths under 35. 4 Miss Irwin reported that the 
ages of the more skilled workers in Glasgow range from 20 upward, ' 
one employer reporting the average marriage age about 24, 5 and M. ! 
Aine found the majority of custom workers in Paris " jeunes et gaies." ( 
"Few married women," he said, "work in the shops." "The per- 
sonnel of the dressmaking shops is primarily young; one encounters 
on the other hand more elderly women in the cloak-making establish- 
ments." 8 The older woman who has never progressed beyond the 
$9 stage is occasionally encountered as an "extra" in the large shops 
or as a helper to the private dressmaker, but usually drifts, as she 

i Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education No. 17, 1913. A Trade School for Girls: A 
Preliminary Investigation in a Typical Manufacturing City, Worcester, Mass. Washington, 1913, p. 27. 

2 Special Reports of the Census Office, 1900. Statistics of Women at Work, p. 71. 

s Census of Massachusetts, 1905, Vol. II, p. 155, which reports 3,284 (57.5 per cent) of the 5,711 dressmakers 
in Boston within the 25 to 44 years of age group. 

* Carroll D. Wright in 1884 determined the average age of dressmakers (employers) in Boston to be 
30.59 and of employees 20.48. Fifteenth Annual Report of Massachusetts Bureau of Labor, 1884. 
Working Girls of Boston, p. 39. This average is based on a small number of cases: Employers, 38 cases; ' 
employees, 62 cases. • -^^atsgSfljFsrti^ 

6 Women's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking, by Margaret Irwin, Glasgow, 1900, p. 34. . 

e Les Patronnes, Employees et Ouvrieres de 1'IIabillement a Paris, par Aine, en Relormo Sociale (189S), 
Vol. V, p. 69. Also Le Travail de Nuit des Femmes, par Georges Alfassa, en Re\-ue de Paris, Sept. 15, 1 
1904, p. 367. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOE WOMEN IX MASSACHUSETTS. 



71 



becomes more incompetent with increasing age, either into alteration 
departments, ready-made-clothing factories, or into home work for 
these factories. The main working force in custom dressmaking, 
therefore, by this process of elimination continues to consist primarily 
of comparatively young workers with a certain degree of skill. 

Professional workers in custom dressmaking have, on the whole, 
gone to work at an early age. More than one-half (54 per cent) of 
the 200 visited began at the age of 16 or under, 14.5 per cent beginning 
at 14 or under, 1 but two influences, conditions in the trade itself, and 
legislation, are tending to advance the age at entrance. 

TABLE 16 AGE AT BEGINNING WORK, AS REPORTED BY WORKERS. 

[Based on personal interviews.] 



Age at beginning wort. 



13 years 

14 years 

15 years 

16 years 

17 years 

18 years 

19 years 

20 years 

21 years 

22 years 

23 years 

24 years and over . 
Not reported 



Total. 



Number. 



Ter cent. 



14.5 

39.5 

20.0 

8.5 
8.5 



The increasing complexity of the work and specialization of 
workers is resulting in the practical disappearance of the apprentice- 
ship system or use of young workers, so there are continuously decreas- 
ing opportunities for girls under 16 years of age. Moreover, legislation 
requiring age and schooling certificates for minors between 14 and 
16 at work and limiting the working day to eight hours in New York 
and Massachusetts is also lending its influence toward their exclusion. 2 
More than one-fourth (29 per cent) of the workers visited began 
work between 17 and 19 years of age and 8.5 per cent did not go to 
work until 20 or over. "Girls should enter the trade young," say 
most dressmakers, though few wish to bother with "very young 
girls." Not all these girls who have gone to work at an early age 
went into the dressmaking trade immediately. One-fourth of the 
200 visited had done some work previously, so they had not entered 
the dressmaking trade as early as the previous table seems to show. 

i Carroll D. Wright in 1884 reported the average age at beginning work for employer dressmakers as 
17.47 and employees 18.82. Fifteenth Annual Report of Massachusetts Bureau of Labor, 1S84. Working 
Girls of Boston, by Carroll D. Wright, p. 39. 

*New York Department of Labor, Twenty-sixth Annual Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1908, 
Pt. I, p. 158. 



72 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



The following table shows the earlier occupation of those who had 
worked at something besides dressmaking: 

Table 17.— PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN THE DRESSMAKING TRADE, 
[Based on personal interviews.] 



Previous occupation. 


Workers. 


Number. Percent. 


Professional: Teacher 

Clerical: Office worker 

Mercantile: 


1 

1 

4 


2.0 
2.0 




1 
2 








Total 




7 | 14.0 


Custom work: 
Millinery 


3 
1 

1 










Total 




5 | 10. 


Domestic and personal service: 
Housework at home 


4 
6 
1 
5 
1 
1 




















Total 




18 


30.0 


Manufacturing: 

Machine-made clothing.. . 


7 
11 






Total 




18 


36.0 




SO 


100.0 





Three lines of work, personal and domestic service, manufacturing, 
and that in mercantile establishments, provided transitory or juvenile 
employment for the majority of workers who had been previously 
employed. Personal and domestic service is especially an opening 
for young foreign girls who do not know the English language. "I 
have done all sorts of things, anything to learn the language," said 
a young Swedish girl, " first housework, then second girl, cook, lady's 
maid, and combination of lady's maid and family seamstress." 
Finally, she was a finisher in a large dressmaking establishment, earn- 
ing $7 a week. A young Scotchwoman, however, who was not 
handicapped by language difficulties, had been caretaker of a house 
when she first arrived, then plain sewer at $6, filling in her summers 
with housework and taking care of children, and at the end of 12 
years had risen to the position of head waist girl in a large dressmaking 
shop with a weekly wage of S30. 1 

1 Additional illustrative cases of girls who have had previous employments: 
Case A.— Born and educated in Sweden; came to Boston at age of 15; housework 4 to 5 years, $5 a week; 

at present, age 26, head sleeve girl in small shop, $10 to $12. 
Case B.— Born and educated in Newfoundland; came to Boston at age of 19; spent 10 years in various 

kinds of work: Shoe factory, $6 to $7 a week; lady's maid, housework, seamstress; now head of 

shirtwaist table in middle-class shop, $12 a week. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 73 

Young girls frequently begin work early as child's nurse until they 
have reached a more mature age, while the older woman has frequently 
spent her earlier life in the home, taking the place of the mother who 
has died. After the family has grown and scattered she enters the 
sewing trades in which she has acquired some experience in her home 
duties. 

Temporary or immediate economic pressure often forces young 
girls into the undesirable trades. Some find a way out but others, 
once there, are there for life. A young dressmaker of 33 whose father 
had died when she was 6 years old, leaving her mother, younger 
brother and sister and herself to work out the problems of their exist- 
ence, could not finish school and went to work when only a child in a 
factory. She drifted from factory to factory and at the age of 19 
found herself working in a gelatine factory for $6 a week. " I realized 
that I could stay there forever and never make more than $6. The 
youngest and poorest worker could earn $6 a week as well as the oldest 
and best." A friend in a dressmaking shop offered her an oppor- 
tunity to learn the trade. She entered the shop as errand girl at $3 
a week. At the end of 14 years she was head sleeve girl in a large 
fashionable shop at $15 a week and filled in her vacations by ''going 
out by the day" at $2.50 a day. 

A thoughtful woman of 40 had gone to work in a shoe factory at 
the age of 14 and worked there for 16 years. "I used to wonder 
what I could do which would offer better opportunities and possi- 
bilities when I really settled down for my real life work." She 
" always knew how to sew" and decided to go out sewing by the day. 
Gradually she realized the need of more knowledge and wider experi- 
ence and through a customer secured a position in a large shop in 
Boston where she learned "the system." After going out by the 
day for several years, she tried going into business for herself, but 
could not meet the capital problem. " Customers insisted on running 
bills from six to ten months. They would go away for the summer 
and not pay their spring bills until fall. So I had to give that up 
and became head sleeve girl in a small shop, receiving $12 a week." 

Mercantile establishments had provided juvenile employment for 14 
per cent of the workers who had had a previous trade. The young 
workers had been check and bundle girls and the older women, 
sales girls. Ten per cent had worked in the closely allied needle 
trades, millinery, embroidery, and tailoring, while 4 per cent had dono 
professional and clerical work before entering the dressmaking trade. 

The majority of women employed in some previous work had 
been engaged in something having little or no connection with their 
subsequent skilled trade. They had gone to work, blindly, either 
from choice or necessity. Some had gradually' felt the need of a 
better trade with wider opportunities and found their way out 



74 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOE STATISTICS. 



through their own initiative while others had been pushed into 
dressmaking through efforts of their friends. 

While the majority of workers in the dressmaking trade — about 
four-fifths of the 200 visited in Boston — are or must be content with 
elementary schooling, almost one-fifth of those visited in Boston, as 
showTi in the following table, had had further education. 

Table 18.— SCHOOLING OF 200 WORKERS IN THE DRESSMAKING TRADE. 
[Based on personal interviews.] 



School and grade 


Workers. 


Number. 1 1'er cent. 




1 

s 

3 
5 
13 
2 
3 


0.5 


High school: 






















Total 

Grammar school: 




34. 


17.0 


44 
3 
8 

10 
5 

32 
























Total 




102 


51.0 






2 

2 
8 


1.0 


Catholic schools: 






Total 




10 


5.0 




11 

1 

12 
5 
4 
2 
1 


1.5 

5.5 


Country schools and schools in 


Foreign schools: 


British-American I'rov- 








Norway and Sweden 










Total 




25 


12.5 




12 


CO 




200 


100. 





The majority of those having more than an elementary schooling 
had gone to high school, one was a university graduate, one came 
from a fashionable girls' seminary, and two had attended a com- 
mercial college. A few others might have had further schooling, 
but "never cared much for books." Forty per cent of the 54 
workers studied in the shops of Worcester were high-school girls, 
and 39 per cent from the ninth grade. The girls in the dress- 
making trade of a city like Worcester are from distinctly a higher 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOE WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 75 

social stratum than those found in the manufacturing industries. 
Many came from families where financial pressure, did not prematurely 
force them into the industrial world, yet when they were ready to 
earn their living, the custom trades, dressmaking and millinery, 
seemed the only or most desirable openings available. 

Whether the higher educational status in the dressmaking trade 
represents a definite and commensurate cash value would be difficult 
to determine from the 200 cases visited, for many influences such as 
length of experience, physical condition, artistic sense, and adminis- 
trative ability complicate the problem. It might be suggested, 
however, that the higher educational status and higher wage scale 
observed in custom dressmaking doubtless have some relation. 1 And 
a very obvious relation may be seen between the educational status 
and the higher social status which characterize the dressmaking trade, 
raising it above the manufacturing industries. 

Nationality is also an interesting factor in determining success and 
advancement. But 4 of the 24 foreign born and bred who were 
personally visited earned less than $9, and two of these were less than 
20 years of age and had had but 2 years' experience. More than one- 
half (58) of the 100 firms visited expressed a distinct preference for 
girls of foreign birth or descent, especially Irish, Swedes, and Nova 
Scotians; and their reasons are sometimes most suggestive. One 
of the large f ashionablo dressmakers prefers ' ' European girls trained 
in the trade schools of Europe." Another says, ''Foreign girls are 
the best workers. They are willing to adapt themselves to shop 
conditions. They are anxious to learn, are quick and bright. A 
little Austrian girl who could not speak the English language started 
in with mo four years ago on $1 a week. She is now making $8 a 
week." "I have had two Italian girls this year," said another, 
"who were trained in the shops of Venice. They are the best workers 
I ever had." The superiority of trade training on the continent and 
the greater facilities for obtaining it are, in the opinion of English 
students of the subject, the explanation of the superiority of the 
European worker, 2 which in turn explains the greater demand for 
her services. 

Forty-three per cent of the 5,711 women dressmakers reported in 
Boston in 1905 were foreign born, and almost three-fourths (71.8 
per cent) were of foreign parentage. 3 This predominance of women 
of foreign descent is probably duo to the fact that sewing is still more 

i See forthcoming bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics on Industrial Efficiency of 
Girls Trained in Massachusetts Trade Schools. 

2 Boy and Girl Labor, by N. Adler and R. H. Tawney, London, 1909. London County Council, 
Women's Trades. Fifteenth Report of the Education Committee of the London County Council (1908), 
by Mrs. Oakeshott, p. 16. 

3 Census of Massachusetts, 1905, Vol. II, Occupations, p. 155. Forty-five per cent of the 6,568 reported 
in 1910 were foreign bom and 73.3 per cent were of foreign parentage. United States Census, 1910. 
Occupation Statistics, p. 473. 



76 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

prevalent in the homes of these people than among Americans of 
native parentage, and still occupies an important place in the schools 
and convents, so that the sewing trades offer the obvious opportunity 
for a livelihood. The men in the trade, though relatively few, are 
practically all (90.9 per cent) foreign born, the majority being Rus- 
sian Jews. Of the women of foreign parentage, 30.2 per cent were 
Irish and 20.2 per cent British American, only 5 per cent being Rus- 
sian or Italian. 

According to the United States census for 1900, 1 women of French 
parentage formed the largest proportion of women in the trade. 
Very few such women were found among the dressmakers of Boston, 
and in the State as a whole they formed, according to the Massa- 
chusetts census of 1905, less than 1 per cent of those in the trade. 
Several years ago the largest and most exclusive shop in Boston tried 
the experiment of importing several expensive dressmakers from 
Paris to take charge of the dressmaking department, but after several 
years' experience the firm was forced to admit the scheme a failure. 
In spite of American dependence on Paris, Parisian creations must 
be modified and Americanized to meet popular acceptance, and the 
conclusion from long experience is that Americans or Americanized 
women best know and appreciate American needs, demands, and 
tastes. 

Both the industrial and living conditions of the workers in the 
dressmaking trade contribute to individualism and isolation and 
make organization or cooperative action difficult. While the workers 
in certain trades, such as machine-made clothing and many manu- 
facturing industries, congregate to a marked degree in certain sec- 
tions of the city, those in the custom dressmaking trade of Boston 
are to a large extent suburbanites. To the north, the south, the 
east, and the west they were found in neighboring suburbs and even 
in surrounding cities. The character of the industry partially explains 
this situation. The workers are presumably in the trade because 
of some aptitude for the work, hence go to the city where lies the 
best opportunity for development. The worker in the unskilled 
industry may take one kind of work as well as another and usually 
chooses that near home or easily accessible. The working force 
of certain industries, especially the unskilled, are, moreover, char- 
acterized by certain racial groups which tend to congregate in par- 
ticular neighborhoods, but dressmaking is the meeting place of a 
great variety of social and racial elements. 

The majority, over three-fourths of the 200 workers visited, lived 
at home; 137 of these formed a part of the family group, while 16 

wore in homes of their own. 

. . 

1 United States Cenus, 1900. Statistics of Women at Work, p. 71. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 77 

Table 19.-LIVING CONDITIONS OF 200 WORKERS PERSONALLY VISITED. 



Living conditions. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


With family. 
Contributing: 


17 
43 
34 

8 
i 2 


8.5 

21.5 

17.0 

4.0 

1.0 










Total 


104 

8 

25 


52.0 
4.0 
12.5 




Not reporting as to disposition of 


Total, living with family 

Boarding. 


137 


68.5 


12 
6 
8 

20 


6.0 
3.0 
4.0 
10.0 






With others 


Total 


48 


23.0 


Housekeeping. 


5 
11 


2.5 
5.5 




Total 


16 


8.0 




1 


.5 


Grand total 


200 


100.0 





i These 2 contributed by sewing for the family. 

A small number, 17, of those living with the family group, had 
dependents such as a widowed mother or invalid sister. None 
earned less than $9, though one-half did not exceed $12. The 16 
in homes of their own have been tabulated, under the heading 
"housekeeping." Two were mothers with two children dependent 
on them, one earning $18 and one but $9. The young son of the latter 
earned $5. Five formed part of a cooperative scheme, where several 
brothers and sisters with neither mother nor father maintained a 
home on the cooperative basis, each contributing to a common 
housekeeping fund. 

To what extent the family may be dependent on the young worker 
it is difficult to determine. While her small wage in many cases 
was a very helpful supplement to the family income, yet the family 
could subsist in case of the child's illness or idleness during slack 
season. Twenty-five of the 137 workers living with their families 
made no report as to the disposition of their earnings. The extent 
to which the remainder used their wages for f araily purposes is shown 
by the following table. 



78 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Table 20.— EXTENT TO WHICH WORKERS LIVING AT HOME CONTRIBUTED TO THE 

FAMILY INCOME. 

[Based on personal interviews.] 



Contribution. 


Workers. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Supporting family 


17 

43 
l o 
34 
8 
8 
25 


12.4 

32. 1 
1.5 

24. S 
5.1 
5.9 

18.2 


Contributing all wages 


Contributing part wage 


Making no contribution 


Total 


137 


100.0 





i These 2 contributed by sewing for the family. 

The majority of those who contributed all their wages to the 
family were not over 21 and did not earn more than $8, though a 
German girl of 23 and an English girl of 22, each earning $10 a 
week, turned in the pay envelope untouched. Among those who 
turned in part of their wages, the contribution ranged from one-fifth to 
five-sixths of the wage, the rest being retained for personal expenses, 
such as clothes and carfare. More than three-fourths of these were 
over 18 years of age, but the income of almost two-thirds of them 
was less than $9. 

A very small proportion (5.9 per cent) contributed nothing to 
the family income. One girl of 20, earning $6 a week, said her 
money was her spending money. The parents of the others were 
able and willing to give the girl experience in managing her own 
finances, from which she clothed herself and paid all expenses except 
board. But one of this group was over 20 years of age. A girl of 
17, earning $6, gives her mother $2 when she wants it, but usually 
uses her earnings for her own expenses. Another girl of 19, earning 
$8.50, gives "some to the family, according to what it heeded." Four 
girls, earning $6.50, $7, $12, and $13.50, '''pay board while working." 
An equally small proportion (5.1 per cent) controlled their own in- 
comes from which they paid board to the family, all being 20 Or mOre 
years old. 

Married women, as M. Aine reported for Paris, form a small pro- 
portion of the custom workers in Boston. But 2h per cent of the 
200 visited and 6 per cent of the 545 (16 years of age and over) studied 
from the pay rolls were married women. However, they consti- 
tuted three times as large a proportion (17.6 per cent) of the 500 
factory workers studied from pay rolls. These statistics corroborate 
conclusions drawn from study of the trade both at home and 
abroad — that, in general, the older women and those who have had 
to reenter the industrial field find more opportunity in the less 
skilled branch of the industry. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 79 

Less than one-fourth of the 200 workers personally visited could 
be termed ''adrift" and almost one-third of these lived with rela- 
tives or friends, showing the desire for connection with some family 
group. One-fourth of this group lived in subsidized boarding houses 
for women, doubtless because of the low cost of living but perhaps 
to some extent because of the social life offered. Slightly more than 
half earned less than $9, the remainder earning more. Combining 
the workers living in subsidized houses with those living with rela- 
tives and friends, more than one-half of this group may be said to 
be questionably independent. 

The great majority of the workers visited are therefore "women 
living at home" and their homes provided an interesting sociological 
study, ranging from an attractive suburban residence surrounded by 
ample lawn and beautiful flowers to a miserable tenement in a poor 
and crowded section. The visitor could often form little conception 
from a glance about the house of the type of girl she might expect 
to see. A ring at the door-bell of a tumble-down frame house in 
one of the poorest sections of the city might be answered by a well- 
dressed girl with the unquestionable "air" of one who comes in 
contact with people of refinement. She was a fine lady to her sister 
who worked in a factory and to the rest of the family, who had not 
had her opportunities to see, to imitate, and to develop ease of 
manner, and good taste in dress. 

In general, the beneficent influence of the better industry was 
apparent. The girl from the poor uncultured home most certainly 
profits by her experience in the custom shop. Contact with a class 
of workers superior to that in manufacturing industries, experience 
in handling beautiful materials, incidental if not actual connection 
with artistic creation, and training in a trade which she can utilize 
in her everyday life undoubtedly give her an advantage which is 
apparent. 

ATTITUDE TOWARD UNIONS. 

Social gradations, industrial conditions, the predominance of 
women, and the recent development of the trade from its domestic 
stages all militate against organization, so characteristic of the 
other branches of garment making but lacking in the custom 
dressmaking trade. Although an organization called the Ladies' 
Tailors' and Dressmakers' Union existed in Boston at the time of 
the investigation, it was composed almost entirely of men and repre- 
sented largely tailoring shops where there was much overtime and 
nightwork. The women who were approached on the subject of 
unionism expressed contempt for and superiority over such con- 
nection. This attitude of the women custom workers is due to 
various causes. First, custom dressmakers are of a higher social 
stratum and feel superior to the factory workers, among whom 



80 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

unionism has made greatest progress. Second, they know little of the 
purpose and meaning of unionism, which to them in their ignorance 
means strikes and disorder. Third, they have not felt the need of 
organization because they are not exposed to the many petty griev- 
ances faced by the factory worker, since owing to the character of 
the work and size of the shops, fines, piece wage, "cuts," and "speed- 
ing up" have not been developed. Fourth, the comparative isola- 
tion of the custom worker in the small and medium-sized shops 
which have been characteristic of the trade does not tend toward 
community of understanding and cooperation among the workers of 
the trade as a whole. As dressmaking develops toward greater 
industrialization, unionism will doubtless make more progress. The 
conditions in the industry itself up to the opening of the twentieth 
century have militated against such progress. 

The labor problem of the dressmaking trade, however, menaces 
the existence of the industry, where the disappearance of the ap- 
prenticeship system has not been followed by other adequate means 
of training and preparing workers for the trade, though the develop- 
ment of the trade itself has increasingly demanded greater skill and 
ability. Provision of an adequate working force has become one 
of the great problems for solution, for the welfare both of the trade 
and of the individual worker. Difficulties in the way are the inca- 
pacity of the mass of workers to meet the demands of the trade, the 
seasonal character of the industry, the lack of system and proper 
arrangement of work in individual shops, and a maladjustment of 
the labor force due to the lack of an adequate labor and information 
bureau through which can be realized the necessary connection 
between demand and supply. While sewing is a natural resort for 
women, not only for the young women who are directed into it be- 
cause it seems to be a " genteel" occupation but for many untrained 
women thrown upon their own resources, many are unable to measure 
up to the requirements. An adequate system of specialized train- 
ing or an efficient bureau of guidance and direction might save both 
these types the misfortune of failure and find for them the opening 
for which they are best fitted. 

Since dressmaking is such a skilled trade that it can utilize very 
few young girls, many who must earn as soon as the law allows 
must first enter unskilled industries, which always offer wide-open 
doors to the immature girl. While the capable and more ambitious 
may graduate from these unskilled industries, very few do or are able 
to, because they do not know what industries offer opportunities for 
advancement, or how or where to secure training for something 
better, or because they are too tired to take advantage of such train- 
ing after a long working day of nine or ten hours. Four social 
agencies are, therefore notably needed at the present time: (1) Day 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 81 

trade schools which can hold and train the child whose parents can 
dispense with her small earnings until she is 16 years old; (2) social 
agencies which can keep ambition and courage kindled in the child 
who must go to work at 14 in unskilled industries, and can develop 
the desire for additional training and advancement; (3) bureaus of 
information, vocational advice and guidance to show what indus- 
tries offer good opportunities for advancement, the requisite quali- 
fications and ways of developing these qualities, and to make con- 
nections between employer and worker; and (4) educational agencies 
providing part-time schooling in the daytime for the young workers 
and more advanced systematic night schools for the older workers 
employed during the day. 

29885°— Bull. 193—16 6 



CHAPTER IV. 

IRREGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT. 

THE SEASONS. 

Irregularity of employment in dressmaking depends upon two main 
factors, the seasonal nature of the trade and the character of the indi- 
vidual worker. In other words, seasonal fluctuations and the insta- 
bility of the working force both have a part in causing irregular 
employment. 

The social life of a community largely determines the dressmaker's 
season. The tendency of the wealthy class to live in the city only 
about six months in the year and to spend an ever-increasing length 
of time in the country, causes social festivities to concentrate within 
the months of November to January. Upon roturn f rom the country 
in the fall, the feminine element deluges the dressmakers with orders for 
new gowns which must be completed within these few month's. Again 
in the spring, the first warm day, June weddings, college commence- 
ments, preparation for a trip abroad or for a sojourn in the country, 
all bring in a rush of orders from March to June. But a beautiful 
autumn may tempt people to stay in the country later than usual 
or a cold, rainy spring may delay the demand for new summer clothes, 
thereby affecting the welfare of thousands of workers, for they are 
not employed until there is work for them to do. 

Moreover, changes in the habits and customs of the people mean new 
adjustments for those who serve them, and especially is this true in 
the custom dressmaking trade where the relationship is direct and 
no intermediate agency equalizes the fluctuation of demand and 
supply. The general use of automobiles is making a serious invasion 
in the trade, because this prevalent outdoor pastime decreases the 
need for fancy indoor gowns, which largely constitute the work of the 
custom dressmaker. The opera in Boston during the last few years 
has, on the other hand, greatly increased the amount and value of 
product. The earlier exodus to summer resorts brings an earlier 
end to the spring "busy season" and the later return to the city in 
the fall a later opening of the shops for the winter season. The 
increasing exodus to the South in midwinter, on the other hand, has 
lengthened the winter season in Boston. "The winter season for- 
merly was on the decline by Thanksgiving," said a dressmaker of 
long experience; "now it lasts through December and in some shops 
well through January. Customers must have new clothes suitable 
to the southern climate, and their orders help fill in the slack season." 

Business men and women, the Parisian arbiters of fashion, have 
still further involved this complex interdependence of the worker 

83 



84 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

and purchaser for their own profit. Taking advantage of the fact that 
women of many parts of the world look to Paris for the fashions, 
they have formed a close corporation for mutual protection against 
the commercial competition of other cities, and have agreed to exhibit 
the new styles in models and fashion books only at specific dates. 
No models for summer gowns are shown before February 1, or 
for winter gowns before August 1 ; for summer cloaks before Janu- 
ary 15 or for winter cloaks before July 15. 1 Buyers for the United 
States and western Europe, therefore, gather in Paris between Janu- 
ary 15 and February 15, and between July 15 and August 1 to learn 
the new styles, and manufacturers, dressmakers, and the fashionable 
world await in respectful inactivity the decrees of the great designers. 

The frequent and abrupt changes in style decreed by Parisian 
fashion leaders may greatly affect the seasons of individual workers. 
The vogue of "princess" and whole dresses meant " out of work" 
earlier for the specialized skirt workers, who made no claim to work 
on waists with artistic lines. The "kimono sleeves ' ' meant small need 
of specialized sleeve makers, for the waist girl made the sleeves with 
the waist. The dainty chiffons left small opportunity for the plain 
finisher, as the delicate, perishable materials must be handled with 
deft and skilled hands. The increased use of embroidery trimmings 
offered occupation to the foreign girls and women who do beautiful 
handwork, some of them working in their own homes. 

Dependence on Parisian fashion with its consequent congestion 
of the working season is largely due to the customer. The ultra- 
fashionable dressmaker whose customers insist on the latest Parisian 
whims must wait for the new models. "If I had two models side 
by side, one of my own and one of Parisian make, the customer would 
choose mine, if she was not aware that it was American made, but 
if told, of course would wish the Parisian model," said one dress- 
maker. "One must have 'models'" (which always means Parisian 
models), say all dressmakers who cater at all to fashionable people; 
so they must go to Europe once or twice a year, and the workrooms fre- 
quently are idle until their return. Social festivities then come with 
a rush, and the workrooms are suddenly transformed from barren, 
deserted rooms to crowded, busy workshops and hundreds of orders 
are rushed through at high speed. The work is soon turned out and 
the workers are rapidly laid off. The less "exclusive" shops depend 
on importers who bring the models from Paris to New York, while 
the still more modest dressmakers depend on fashion books and shop 
windows for the new styles. The dressmaker who caters to the 
middle and lower classes is much less bound by Parisian decrees, 
and as a result has a longer and more regular season. The small 

1 L'Industrie de la Couture et de la Confection a Paris, par Leon de Seilhac, p. 29. A new and more 
rigid syndicate has been organized by Paul Poiret during 1915-10. See report in New York Times, Jan. 
23, 1916. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOE WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



85 



dressmaker who is clever and has good taste and inventive genius 
makes her own " Paris models " in the dull season, or persuades her cus- 
tomers that there is to be little change in the styles of evening gowns, 
and since they do not desire the latest freaks of fashion, she is not 
delayed by waiting for Parisian mandates. 

The working, or "busy, seasons" vary for different localities, dif- 
ferent shops, and different years, 1 but on the whole the orders for 
summer work tend to come in from March to June and for the winter 
work from September to December. The two seasons, spring and 
fall, characterize the dressmaking trade. The working force is grad- 
ually taken on through March and reaches its maximum in April and 
May. During the five months, April to August, which mark the 
heights and depths of the dressmaking season, the maximum number 
employed during the year has been gathered into the folds of the 
trade and scattered again to the four winds. While there is a pre- 
cipitous drop in the number employed in June, July, and August, an 
equally rapid rise occurs in September and October, when the workers 
arc again assembled for the winter's work, and the season reaches its 
height in November. However, the decline in January and February is 
never so great as in summer, as the majority of shops resort to various 
makeshifts to hold their best workers for the coming spring season. 

An intensive study of the pay rolls of 14 custom shops in Boston, 
chosen so as to include varied types, shows a striking similarity to 
the seasonal fluctuation reported by the United States census.2 
This is plainly shown in the following table: 

Table 21.— AVERAGE NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN CUSTOM DRESSMAKING 
IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1900/* AND IN 14 SHOPS IN BOSTON IN 1910.& BY MONTHS. 



Month. 



United States. 



Average 
number.c 



Per cent of 
median 
number. 



14 shops in Boston. 



Average 
number.^ 



Per cent of 
median 
number. 



January 

February. . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September. 

October 

November. 
December.. 



39,593 
38,345 
4S,349 
56,700 
57,596 
50,412 
34,076 
23,615 
39, 159 
52. 276 
54,962 
52.057 



115 
117 
102 
69 
48 
79 
106 
111 
105 



256 
257 
268 
319 
314 
275 
181 
11 
150 
275 
329 
296 



94 
95 
99 
117 
115 
101 
67 
4 
55 
101 
121 
109 



Median number. 



49,381 



100 



272 



100 



" Calculated from United States Census, 1900. Manufactures, Vol. VIII, Pt. I, p. 54. (Men, women, 
and children combined.) 

b From pay rolls of 14 Boston shops, September, 1910, to September, 1911. 

c The average number employed each month is secured by adding the numbers employed each week 
during the month in each of the shops, A, B, etc. (see Table 23), and dividing this total by the number 
of wee'-:s worked that month for each individual shop; the resultant monthly averages in the 14 shops 
are added for the total average number employed each month in the combined shops. This method 
makes the monthly averages comparable with those secured by the census from individual employers. 

1 Miss Irwin, in her study of the trade in Scotland, recognized this fact. "The busy and slack seasons 
in the dressmaking trade are naturally largely dependent on social and local causes in different districts." 
Great Britain, Royal Commission on Labor, 1893. Conditions of Work in Scotland, by Margaret Irwin, 
p. 292. 

2 See Chart A. 



86 



BULLETIN/ OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Chart A.— FLUCTUATION OF THE WORKING FORCE, BY MONTHS, TN CUSTOM DRESS- 
MAKING IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1900 i AND IN M SHOPS IN BOSTON TN 19UM 

[Ba-<edonTable21.) 



Per- 
centage 


Jan. 


Feb. March 


April 


May 


June 


July 


August 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


120 


























100 








,/^~ 


"X 










/ • 


-~"*"^"^-**, 


\ 


80 




_- 








\ 


\ 






i 












CO 
40 












4 X 




/ i 
/ i 














\ 




1 ^ 
1 

\ 

\ 
1 
\ 


\ / 


i 

i 
i 

/ 
i 








20 




| 










\ 
i / 


i 

i 
i 













i 
1 










\ / 
* / 
\ t 

\ i 

» 











— United States 14 Boston shops. 

The curve for Boston does not drop as low in the dull winter 
months of January and February as that for the United States as a 
whole, but falls lower in August. Almost exactly the same variation 
appears between the curves for custom shops in London and for the 
United Kingdom as a whole. 3 These differences may be partially 
due to the fact that on the one hand the majority of Boston dress- 
makers attempt by various expedients to tide over the dull winter 
season because of the scarcity of good workers and the danger of 
laying them off, and, on the other hand, the established custom among 
the wealthy and middle classes of Boston of spending the summer 
out of town results in little or no demand in the summer months. 4 
Moreover, this variation may be due not only to the difference in 
demand among the city and the country people as a whole, but also 
to the fact that the fluctuations of employment over a larger area 
neutralize each other and smooth the curves. 

The two branches of the women's clothing trade have different 
working seasons. The factory dressmaking busy seasons precede those 
in custom dressmaking, since the ready-made gowns mast be coni- 

i United States Census, 1900. Manufactures, Vol. VIII, Pt. I, p. 54. 

3 From pay rolls of 11 Boston shops, September, 1910, to September, 1911. 

3 Clothing and Textile Trades. Summary tables by L. W. Papworth and D. N. Zimmera, published 
by Women's Industrial Council, London, 1912. (Summary tables based on census returns.) 

* These Boston returns do not cover any private dressmakers, because none could be found who kept 
pay rolls, but they are for that reason more comparable to the census returns, which do not include iress- 
rualcers working in their homes or turning out an annual product of less than $500. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



pleted, shipped to their destination, and placed on sale in time to 
meet the demand for new winter and summer clothes. 1 

The following table shows the difference between the. two branches 
in this respect: 

Table 23.— AVERAGE NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN 14 CUSTOM DRESS- 
MAKING AND 2 MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON, BY MONTHS. 

[Based on pay roIL.] 





Custom shops. 


Manufacturing shops. 


Month. 


Average 
number. 


Per cent 
of median 
number. 


Averse Percent 

m.rnbef of modiau 
number, j mlmber# 




256 

257 
268 
319 
314 
275 
181 
11 
150 
275 
329 
296 


94 
95 
99 
117 
115 
101 
67 
4 
55 
101 
121 
109 


164 

189 
194 
166 
116 
121 
141 
132 
180 
189 
137 
10.3 


103 




124 




128 




109 




76 




80 


July 


93 




87 




113 




124 




90 




69 






Median number 


272 


100 


152 ! 100 

I 



Chart B.— FLUCTUATION OF THE WORKING FORCE, BY MONTHS, IN 14 CUSTOM DRESS- 
MAKING AND 2 MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON. 

[Based ou Table 22.] 



Per- 
centage 


Jan. 


Feb. 


March 


April 


May 


June 


July 


August 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


120 






N. 












■■""" \ 






100 


, 


* 




\ 
\ 










/ 


\ 
\ 


\ 
\ 




80 










\ 
\ 


a 


c'V 






\ 




60 
























\ 


40 


























20 


























o 



























Custom shops Factories. 



The factory force is, therefore, being taken on in January when 
custom workers are being laid off and the busy season reaches its 



» See Chart B. 



88 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

height in March, one month ahead of the custom season. After a 
reduction of the working force of factory dressmaking in April and 
May, it increases with more or less fluctuation through the summer 
months, June, July, and August, but it is not until September that 
the orders of timid and uncertain merchants justify a definite increase. 
In October the height of the fall season is reached, one month earlier 
than in the custom branch. 

The difference in seasons in custom and factory dressmaking would 
seem to offer a good opportunity for dovetailing work in custom shops 
and factories, but the opportunity is not so great as appears on the 
surface. First, the seasons overlap, the factory season beginning 
about one month earlier but not ending before the custom season 
begins. Employers are averse to employing workers who will 
not remain through the season, and the worker, once located, 
frequently remains rather than change. Second, the methods 
of work in custom and factory dressmaking are very different. 
Custom dressmaking is largely fine handwork, and great care 
is required in basting, measuring, and fitting. Factory dressmaking 
is largely machine work, which necessitates skill and experience in 
putting the parts together quickly without basting, and running 
them through the machines rapidly and accurately. The handwork 
in the factory is for the most part very elementary, such as sewing 
on buttons, snipping threads, etc., though the work of drapers, who 
constitute less than 15 per cent of the force, is more closely akin to 
custom work. 1 Machine operators, however, dovetail work in custom 
shops and factories fairly well. 2 

The range of seasonal fluctuation is less marked for the shop force 
in factory dressmaking (128 per cent to 69 per cent) than in the 
custom branch (121 per cent to 4 per cent), since the manufacturer 
need not wait for the order of the individual wearer to utilize his 
large and expensive plant. Because the factory works 52 weeks in 
the year while the custom shop has a usual year of 40 weeks, and 
because the fluctuation of the force as a whole is less marked, the 
impression has become established that factory dressmaking offers 
steadier and more continuous work for the individual workers. Inten- 
sive study of fourteen custom shops and two factories which seem to 
be representative types do not bear out this supposition. 

Individual shops show a great variation in working season. The 
dates of opening and closing, the steadiness of the force during the 
working season, and the length of the busy season and of the work- 
ing year vary widely in different shops. Only two of the fourteen 
shops in Boston from which pay-roll records were taken were open 

i Drapers constituted 14 per cent of 215 factory workers employed in week of maximum employment. 

2 L'Industrie de la Couture et de la Confection a Paris, par Leon de Seilhac. M. Seilhae also points out 

the possibility for dovetailing work in custom shops with work in ready-made clothing factories in Paris. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOE WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



89 



the first week in September and the last week in August. Six of 
the fourteen shops opened the second week in September, one the 
third week, three the fourth week, one the first week in October, and 
one the second week in November, while even greater variation is 
observed in the date of closing. But the different types of shops 
have characteristic working seasons which become apparent from 
the study of 139 establishments in Boston and surrounding cities. 

The following table giving the weekly working force throughout 
the year in 16 establishments studied in Boston shows the extent of 
these differences: 



Table 23.— NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN 14 CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 2 

MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON, BY WEEKS. 

[Based on pay rolls, September, 1910, to September, 1911.] 











Number employed in s 


perilled— 




Month and week. 1 


Custom shops. 


Manufactur- 
ing shops. 




A 2 


B 


c 


D 


E 


F 


G 


H 


I 


J 


K 


L2 


M 


N 


To- 
tal. 


X 


Y 


To- 
tal. 


September: 

1st week 


















2 

10 
11 
10 


"6" 
6 


2 
2 
3 

I 

7 
7 
7 
6 






4 

41 
106 
213 
110 

260 
266 
2S4 
278 
159 

292 
330 
331 
328 
8 

327 
316 
309 
296 

224 

260 
251 
253 
257 
12 

233 
266 
257 
250 
9 

238 
231 
280 
307 
19 

317 
312 
321 
321 
271 


22 
20 
29 
35 


145 
155 
153 
160 


167 
175 


2d week 


9 
25 

51 
62 

61 
59 
61 

50 


3 

27 
46 


6 
12 

28 






6 
13 

20 


3 

7 
17 
16 

17 
17 
17 
19 


12' 

14 

18 
21 

20 
19 


2 

2 
5 

7 

10 
11 
11 
13 






3d week 










182 


4th week 




10 


1 
7 

7 
7 
7 
7 


4 
5 
5 
6 
6 

7 
6 
6 
6 

6 
5 
5 
4 
5 

4 
4 
4 
4 


195 






October: 

1st week 


50 
54 
57 
57 
56 

56 
57 
60 
61 


28 
25 
30 
31 
29 

30 
31 
32 
32' 


34' 
31 
31 


20 
21 
24 
24 
24 

25 

24 
25 
25 


22 
22 
23 
23 
22 

22 
23 
24 
24 


10 

11 

14 
14 
14 

15 
16 
>7 
17 


6 
6 

8 
9 
8 

10 
9 
9 

10 


30 
33 
37 
37 
37 

37 
35 
24 
23 


158 
151 
153 
159 
147 

145 
120 
87 
76 


188 


2d week 


184 


3d week 


190 


4th week 


196 




184 


No\ ember: 

1st week 


60 
61 
59 

54 


20 
20 
20 
21 


20 
20 
19 

18 


14 
16 
16 
16 


5 
5 
5 

5 


8 
8 
8 
8 
8 

8 
8 
8 
8 

8 
7 
8 
9 


182 


2d week 


155 


3d week 


111 


4th week... 


99 






December: 

1st week 


50 
46 
38 
35 
21 

18 
18 
19 
20 


61 
65 
62 
62 
58 

62 
55 
54 
54 


30 
30 
31 
27 
26 

22 
22 
22 
24 


31 

28 
31 
29 
18 

25 
27 

26 
26 


27 

27 
29 
29 
22 

25 
24 
24 
22 


24 
24 
24 
24 
23 

23 

22 
22 

24 


27 
24 
24 
22 
19 

19 
16 
13 

12 


18 
17 
16 
16 
13 

22 
22 
22 
22 


14 
13 
12 
12 
6 

8 
12 
13 
14 


16 
15 
15 
14 

14 
13 
13 
13 
12 

11 
11 
11 
13 


10 
10 
10 
10 
10 

6 
5 

9 
9 


5 

4 
4 
4 
3 

4 
4 
4 
4 


21 
21 
10 

8 

S 

18 
15 
16 

16 
18 
21 
29 


98 
111 
103 
97 
41 

120 
149 
161 
166 

171 

178 
169 
153 


119 


2d week 

3d week 

4th week . . . 

5th week 

January: 

1st week 

2d week 


132 
113 
105 
41 

131 

163 


3d week 


179 


4th week 


181 


5th week.. . 


16 


February: 

1st week 


30 
37 
36 
34 


52 
51 
42 

28 


25 
26 
23 

25 


8 
26 
27 
27 


25 
26 
26 
26 


24 
24 
23 
25 


12 
10 
12 
12 


21 

20 
20 
20 


4 
14 
15 
15 


9 

9 

9 

11 


.... 

2 


9 
9 
9 
9 
9 

9 
9 
9 
9 


3 
3 
3 
3 

3 
3 
3 
3 


187 


2d week 


196 


3d week 


190 


4th week 


182 


5th week 




March: 

1st week 


38 
39 
44 
49 


6 

6 

38 

52 


29 
27 
29 
35 


31 
27 
29 
30 


27 
25 
28 
25 


25 

25 
26 
27 


12 
11 
13 
14 


19 
19 
20 
20 


15 
15 
14 
16 
16 

17 
16 
16 
17 


13 
14 
14 
13 


11 
11 
11 

11 


"'2' 
3 
3 

4 
4 

i 


37 
35 
33 
32 


158 

157 
164 
158 


195 


2d week 


192 


3d week 


197 


4th week 


190 






April: 

1st week 


48 
46 
49 
51 
51 


54 
56 
57 
58 

58 


34 
31 
33 
30 
30 


30 
32 
31 
30 
31 


26 
25 

28 
26 
27 


27 
26 
26 
25 
25 


16 
15 
15 
17 
15 


22 
22 
22 

22 
19 


14 
14 
14 
14 


11 
11 
11 
11 
11 


10 
10 
11 
11 


4 
4 

I 

4 


30 
28 
29 
28 
27 


154 
147 
142 
137 
107 


184 


2d week 


175 


3d week 


171 


4th week 


165 


5th week 


134 



1 The variation in the number of weeks In trie month in different shops rs due to the fact that the pay 
day varies. Some shops close the books Thursdays and some Fridays. 

2 A and L> are commercialized shops. 



90 



BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 



Table S3.— NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN 14 CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 2 
MANUFACTURING SHOrS IN BOSTON, BY WEEKS-Concluded. 











Number employed in specified — 










Month and week.i 








Custom shops. 








Manufacturing 
shops. 




A> 


B 


C 


I) 


E 


F 


G 


II 


I 


J 


K 


1.1 


M 


N 


To- 
tal. 


X 


Y 


To- 
tal. 


May: 

1st week 


52 
51 
50 
46 


59 

58 

57 
58 


31 
29 
28 
27 


31 
29 
30 
28 


26 

28 
25 
26 


24 
23 
23 
23 


15 
16 
15 

15 


22 
23 
23 
21 


16 
16 
18 
18 


13 
13 
13 
13 
13 

13 
13 
13 
13 


11 
11 
11 
11 


4 
5 

6 

8 


11 
9 
9 
9 


4 
4 
4 
4 


319 
315 
312 
307 
13 

292 
287 
271 
254 
43 

222 
178 
126 
91 
30 

14 
9 
6 

1 

600 
375 


26 
28 
25 

25 


100 
S3 
86 
93 


126 


2d week 


109 


3d week 


111 


4th week 


118 






June: 

1st week 


38 
32 
27 
IS 
17 

18 
15 
12 
10 


57 
57 
56 
52 


26 
25 
23 
23 


27 
26 
25 
23 


22 
25 
21 
22 


23 
23 
23 
22 


15 
15 
15 
15 


21 
23 
23 
23 


18 

19 
18 

IS 
19 

19 
18 

.... 


11 
9 

7 


8 

? 

5 


9 
9 
9 
9 

I 

6 
6 

! 

3 
3 
1 

17 

11 

8 

50 


4 
4 
4 
4 

~10 

7 
4 

39 


26 
25 
25 

25 

24 
24 
19 

20 
21 

22 
22 
22 
22 


95 
96 
96 
91 
99 

99 
118 
143 
117 

94 
89 
123 
132 


121 


2d week 


121 


3d week 


121 


4th week 


116 




99 


July: 

1st week 


46 
44 
41 
34 
14 


20 
17 
10 


22 
19 
16 
15 


14 


18 
12 


13 
9 
6 
2 


21 
18 
19 
16 
13 


12 

9 

5 


6 
6 


5 
5 
3 
3 
3 

3 
1 
3 
4 


123 


2d week 


112 




162 


4th week . . . 






137 








31 


August: 


5 
3 


















116 
























111 










.... 














145 












.... 




.... 










154 






























127~ 

62 
38 

49 


'9iT 

65 
56 

47 


59" 

35 
28 

45 


45 

34 

28 

37 


39 

29 

25 

41 


29 

27 
23 

44 


56" 

5 

46 


35 

23 

20 

45 


~37~ 

19 
15 

45 


~25~ 

17 
13 

47 


n 
10 

44 


s 

4 
48 


^7tT 

37 

25 

52 






Total number In year. 
Maximum number at 


446 

178 
134 

52 


522 
215 


Median number 

Number of weeks in 





1 See notes on p. 89. 

The seasons of the dressmaker who conducts a shop depend on four 
factors — the weather, the social life and habits of her clientele, the 
size of her working force, and her own ingenuity and administrative 
capacity — so that, while the different types of shops have each a char- 
acteristic working season, individual shops within that type may show 
variation either way. The private dressmaker has long seasons, first, 
because her clientele, consisting mostly of the middle class, does not 
demand the latest Parisian whims, so she need not go to Europe nor 
wait for the latest styles to begin her work; second, because their 
social life and demands are comparatively uniform throughout the 
year. More than one-half, 60 per cent, of the private dressmakers 
visited in Boston, Worcester, Lowell, and Cambridge, reported work- 
ing seasons of 11 to 12 months, which seems to be characteristic of 
this type in other countries as seen from reports from Paris, London, 
and Glasgow. 1 

i Investigators report a similar situation in other countries. Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, 
Vol. II, Le Vetement a Paris, pp. 412, 415, 419. Women's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking, by 
Margaret Irwin, p. 34. Miss Irwin says: " On the whole the workers for private dressmakers appeared to 
have less slack time than those employed by shops, although two of the latter (employees) were very 
emphatic in their statements to the contrary. One girl said she had never lost a day in a shop, and she 
had weeks of 'idleset' with private dressmakers. Probably the shops keep a regular staff of workers to 
whom they give steady employment throughout the year, while there appears to be a floating body of 
workers who get employment iu them during the busy season, and who are discharged when the 
pressure is over." Women's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking, by Margaret Irwin, p. 36. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 

Table 24.— LENGTH OF WORKING YEAR, BY TYPES OF SHOPS. 
[Based on reports of 138 employers.] 



91 





Kind of ship. 




Length of working year. 


Commer- 
cialized. 


! 1 
Specialized. Transition. \ Private. 


Total 
num- 
ber. 




Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per | Num- 
ceut. ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 






2 
1 
1 
3 


28. 5 
14.3 
11.3 
42.9 




i 
1 3 


i 6 Q 


19.1 
42.6 
29.8 
6.4 
2.1 


14 


11 and under 12 months 

10 and under 11 months 

9 and under 10 months 


8 
28 
12 

1 


It). 3 j 8 
57. 2 ! 15 
24. 5 7 
2.0 2 


22. 8 

42.9 

20.0 

R. 7 


20 
14 
3 
1 


37 
58 
25 

4 











Total 


7 


100.0 


'49 


10O.O ! 35 100 


M7 


ioo.o 


138 











1 One employer not reporting. 



Two employers not reporting. 



The seasonal fluctuation and irregularity of work become more 
serious for both employer and worker in the next and more complex 
type of shop, in the stage of transition. The social life of the clientele 
is more centered in certain social events and more confined within 
certain limited seasons. Some go South for the winter, while many 
leave town for the summer. Consequently the work tends to con- 
centrate in two fairly definite periods, spring and fall, leaving two 
equally definite periods, summer and winter, 1 in which little is done. 

The range of variation in the clientele is, however, still sufficiently 
wide to offer a fairly satisfactory solution of the seasonal problem to 
a good proportion of employers. The customer's who go South in the 
winter provide work for January and February. Others send in their 
work before the spring rush. The increasing use of shirt waists and 
wash dresses, and the earlier exodus to the summer resorts, have 
opened up the spring season in February, so that some employers find 
the winter seasonal depression growing less marked than formerly. 

While the private dressmakers showed a well-marked grouping 
in the 11 to 12 months' season, the shops of the transition stage 
distinctly group in the 10 and less than 11 months' season, 42.9 per 
cent being found here. Ninety-one and five-tenths per cent of the 
private dressmakers had a season of 10 or more months, but only 74.3 
per cent of the shops of the transition stage came in this group; that 
is, only 8.5 per cent of the private dressmakers, as compared with 25.7 
per cent of the shops in the stage of transition, worked less than 10 
months, the characteristic season for the trade. 

The working year varies with the city in which these shops are 
located, as shown by Table 25, since it is the social life of the people 
which determines the seasons. 

1 Women's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking, by Margaret Irwin, p. 33. Also Cadbury, "Women's 
Work and Wages," p. 102: "Dressmaking is a season trade, but the fluctuations are much more folt in 
the fashionable districts." 



92 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Table 25.— NUMBER AND TYPE OF SHOPS IN 5 MASSACHUSETTS CITIES, BY LENGTH 

OF WORKING YEAR. 

[Based on reports of 13S employers.) 





Boston. 


Worcester. 


Lowell, Cambridge, 
Somervi'le. 


Length of working 
year. 


Com- 
mer- 
cial- 
ized. 


Spe- 
cial- 
ized. 


Tran- 
sition. 


Pri- 
vate. 


Total. 


Spe- 
cial- 
ized. 


Tran- 
sition. 


Pri- 
vate. 


Total. 


Tran- 
sition. 


v P a r te. TotaL 




2 
1 
1 
3 


3 

i2j 

12 

1 


2 
3 
13 
5 
2 


6 

10 

28 

2 
1 


10 
17 
47 
22 
4 


5 
3 


1 
3 


1 
5 
1 


2 
13 

4 


2 
2 
2 


2 

5 
1 


2 


1 1 and under 12 months.. 
10 and under 11 months. . 


7 
7 
3 































Total 


7 


311 


25 


27 100 


8 


4 


7 


19 


6 


<13 


19 











1 Two opened shops in summer resorts in July- and August, thus realizing practically a 12 months' season. 

2 One opened a shop in a summer resort in July and August, thus realizing practically a 12 months' 
season. 

3 One shop unclassified. 

* Two shops unclassified. 

In Boston over half the shops of the transition stage have the 10 
months' season, while in Worcester none have less than an 1 1 months' 
season, because the social life of the smaller city is less concentrated 
within short periods, the clientele is less dependent on Parisian 
decrees and delays, and the seasonal exodus is less marked than in a 
large city, these combined causes resulting in a longer and more 
regular working season for the dressmaker. 

Seasonal fluctuation and irregularity of work reach their height in 
the large shop of specialized workers. The dependence on Parisian 
fashion and the migratory habits of the fashionable patrons cause 
the orders to be massed within two or three months of the spring and 
of the fall, thus necessitating a large force for a short time. A large 
force demands expensive head workers, whose salaries represent 
a large expenditure. Economical management, therefore, means 
putting the orders through at full speed and laying off the workers 
as fast as they can be dispensed with. 

The characteristic year of the large custom shop is 10 months, 57 
per cent of the 49 shops visited coming within this group. A smaller 
proportion than of the shops in the transition stage reported a working 
year of 10 months or more, and a slightly larger percentage worked less 
than 10 months, most of the latter being in Boston. 

The commercialized shop, combining custom and ready-to-wear 
production for more than a local market, may equalize, to some 
extent, the marked seasonal fluctuations experienced in some of the 
fashionable custom shops, since the stock must be made up in advance 
of the custom season, to be on sale when the demand comes. The 
sales department also provides an outlet for the product, which may 
be made up in dull season and disposed of by midwinter and summer 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



93 



sales. 1 Of the seven commercialized shops visited in Boston, two 
reported a 12 months' season, one 11, one 10, and three 9 months, 
but the pay-roll records of two of these show that only a small pro- 
portion of the workers profit by the longer season. 2 The largest shop 
of this type in Boston, employing 400 to 500 workers, has a piece- 
work system which places the employee under a double disad- 
vantage. She must take vacations and also frequently has slack work 
and a corresponding fractional week's wage. 

The solution of the seasonal problem in alteration departments 
has been approached from several sides. One exclusive furnishing 
store tries to hold the whole force by midsummer and midwinter 
sales and transfers from one department to another. "This shifting 
is a matter of careful and scientific management." 

Some alteration establishments have two classes of employees — 
the regular or week workers and the seasonal or pieceworkers, the 
latter bearing the brunt of the seasonal fluctuations. 

The wholesale dressmaking factory has a working season of 52 
weeks, but the decline of demand in midwinter and spring causes a 
reduction of the force in November and December and in May, so 
that but a small proportion of workers profits by the longer shop year. 

THE WORKERS' SEASON. 

While the working season of the shop varies in the main from 10 
to 12 months, the season of the individual worker shows a much 
wider range. The duration of employment within a given year 
depends partly on the worker's own skill and ability and partly on 
trade conditions over which she has no control. Taking the trade as 
a whole, the number employed each month varies as shown in the 
following table: 



Table 26.— AVERAGE NUMBER OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN EMPLOYED IN 
CUSTOM DRESSMAKING IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1900,a BY MONTHS. 



Month. 



January 

February. . 
March...'.. . 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September. 

October 

November. 
December. . 



Median number. 



Men. 



Average 
number. 



3.863 
4,021 
5,187 
5,088 
5,220 
3,720 
2,451 
2,416 
4,065 
5,283 
5,563 
5,071 



4,568 



Per cent 
of median 
number. 



85 
88 
114 
125 
114 
81 
54 
53 
89 
116 
122 
111 



100 



Women. 



Average 
number. 



35, 359 
33, 958 
42, 741 
50, 571 
51,910 
46, 288 
31,316 
20,973 
34,736 
46, 583 
48,976 
46,579 



44,515 



Per cent 
of median 
number. 



79 
76 

96 
114 
117 
104 
70 
47 
78 
104 
110 
104 



100 



Children. 



Average 
number. 



371 
366 
421 
441 
436 
404 
309 
226 
358 
410 
423 
407 



406 



Per cent 
of median 
number. 



91 
90 
104 
109 
107 
100 
76 
56 
88 
101 
104 
100 



100 



United States Census, 1900. Manufactures, Vol. VIII, Pt. I, p. 54. 

1 The secretary of the investigation committee of the Seasons Trades' Conference held in London, Feb. 
27, 1901, reported that "in some branches of industry (investigated in London, Liverpool, and Leicester, 
dressmaking being . . . preponderantly represented) it is possible to make up stock in slack seasons, but 
in many cases the employees are discharged." Women's Industrial News, Mar., 1901, p. 220. The bureau 
of labor reports houses in Paris which make " modeles pour l'exportation " as an accessory industry. Office 
du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol. II, Le V element k Paris, p. 467. 

*See Table 23, pp. 89,90. 



94 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

It will be seen that for men, women, and children alike the number 
employed falls below or does not exceed the median for six months 
of the year. In other words, a considerable number of those em- 
ployed during the busy season are without work, so far as dressmaking 
is concerned, for at least six months of the year. 

The table also shows that while a six months' working season pre- 
vails for the three component parts of the working force, men, women, 
and children, as well as for the entire working force, the dates of 
beginning and ending are not identical. The spring season for the 
men (tailors) begins in February, which is the lowest point of the 
midwinter season of the women workers, since the demand for the 
tailored garment precedes that for the house dress, so more than the 
median number of men workers is employed during March, April, and 
May, and of women during April, May, and June. 

The spring season for the men, i. e., the tailoring season, opens and 
closes one month earlier than that for the women, i. e., the dress- 
making season. August marks the lowest depths for all workers. 
During September, men, women, and children are taken on as the 
orders straggle in from the returning patrons, and October, Novem- 
ber, and December constitute the fall season for all three groups. 1 

Although six months represents the working season for at least 
the median number employed in the trade, the season of the indi- 
. vidual worker may vary considerably on either side of this limit. One 
class of workers , and only one, can be comparatively independent of sea- 
sonal fluctuations. The capable dressmaker who goes out by the day 
can have steady work for as much of the year as she chooses. The 
reports of the several workers of this kind who were visited during 
this investigation corresponded with the statements of both American 
and foreign students of the subject. One reported that she worked 
11 months, and three that they worked from 10 to 10 \ months in the 

year. "Miss D makes no appointments between the middle 

of July and September." Another "could work all the year, but I 
need a rest of a month or two. 5 ' The demand for good dressmakers 
who will go out by the day is so well known that shop employees 
sometimes resort to this kind of work as a means of filling in their slack 
seasons. 

The shopworkers find their season materially affected by the kind 
of shop in which they are employed. The table already given 
(Table 23, pp. 89 and 90) to show the variations in the shop seasons 
shows also the uncertainty of the workers' tenure of employment. 

Since the number employed often changes every week, and since 
neither the largest nor the smallest number employed is typical hi 
considering the relation between the season of the shop and that of the 
worker, the median force will be used as a basis for the discussion, 

i See Chart B. 



DEESSMAKIXG AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



95 



the term being used to indicate the weekly working force when at 
least the median number employed through the year are on duty. 
The following table shows the relation between the season of this 
median force and the shop season: 

Table 27.— WORKING YEAR OF EMPLOYEES IN 14 CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 2 
MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON, SEPTEMBER, 1910, TO SEPTEMBER, 1911. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Shop. 



Number 

of weeks 

the shop 

was 

open. 



Custom: 
A... 
B... 
C... 
D... 
E... 



G 

H 

I 

J 

K 

L 

M 

N 

Manufacturing: 

X 

Y 



Maxi- 
mum 
number 

of 
workers 

em- 
ployed. 



37 

178 



Median 

number 

employed 

during 

the 

year. 



134 



Number | Per cent 



of weeks 

the 
median 
number 
worked. 



of the 
year the 
median 
number 
worked. 



51.9 
46.2 
44.2 
36.5 
50.0 
CI. 5 
57.7 
51.9 
46.2 
63.5 
42.3 
61.5 
65. 4 
59.6 

51.9 
48.1 



Per cent 
of the 
shop 
season 

the 
median 
number 
worked. 



Number \ N «mbor 



of 

months 

the shop 

was 

open. 1 



months 

the 
meaian 
number 
worked.. 



.V.. 1 


11.3 


51.1 


10.9 


51.1 


10.4 


51.4 


8.5 


63. 1 


9.5 


72.7 


10.2 


65.2 


10.6 


60. 


10.4 


53. 3 


10.4 


70. 2 


10.9 


50. 


10.2 


OK 7 


11.1 


68.0 


11.5 


79.5 


9.1 


51.9 


12.0 


48.1 


12. 



6.2 
5.5 
5.3 
4.4 
6.0 
7.4 
6.3 
6.2 
5.5 
7.6 
5.1 
7.4 
7.8 



6.2 

5. S 



1 Secured by dividing number of weeks by 1.33. 

It is apparent that the season Is considerably shorter for the 
median force than for the shop. Twelve of the 14 custom shops and 
both the factories had a shop year exceeding 40 weeks, but in none 
did the median force have a working year exceeding 34 weeks, and 
in 8 custom shops and both factories they had less than 30 weeks. 
Generally speaking, the median number of weeks the custom shops 
were open was 45, as compared with a 29 weeks' season for the 
median force. That is, the median force had a working season of 
about two- thirds the shop year. 

The two manufacturing establishments with a 52 weeks' trade 
year employed their median force 25 and 27 weeks, respectively, 
about one-half the shop year. None of the 14 custom shops studied 
intensively had a working season of less than 8 months, but in 
none were at least the median number employed 8 months, and in 
nine of the shops they were employed less than 7 months. Eight 
shops had the characteristic 10 months' season; two of these provided 
a 7 months' working season, two a 6 months' season, and four a 5 
months' season for the median working force. Of the three shops 
with an 11 months' working year, two provided a 7 months' season 



96 



BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



and one a 6 months' season for their median force. The working 
season for the median force in the large custom (A-D) shops employ- 
ing more than 25 in the busiest season and for the wholesale manu- 
facturing shops appears to be approximately one-half the working 
year of the shop in which they are employed. The smaller shops 
(E-N) employing less than 25 in the height of the season retain their 
median force from one-half to three-fourths of the working year. 
The significant fact is that 55 per cent of the 600 workers whose 
records were taken from pay rolls were employed in shops having a 
maximum of more than 25 workers. 

In response to the questions "What are the seasons?" and "How 
many are employed?" employers so frequently replied "It is different 
every year," that the pay-roll records for two or three years were 
taken in several shops to see how true this was. The variations of 
five shops are shown in Table 28. 

Table 28.— NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN FIVE CUSTOM SHOPS IN DIFFERENT 

YEARS, BY WEEKS. 
[Based on pay rolls.] 





Number employed in shop — 


Month and week. 1 


B 


D 


F 


J 




N 






1909- 
10 


1910- 
11 


1908-9 


1909- 
10 


1910- 
11 


1908-9 


1909- 
10 


1910- 

112 


1905-6 


1910- 
11 


1903-4 


1905-6 


1910- 
11 


September: 


















2 
7 
11 
12 

12 
13 

13 
13 

12 

13 
13 
13 
13 

13 

12 
11 
4 


2 
10 
11 
10 

10 
11 
14 
14 
14 

15 
16 
17 
17 

10 
15 
15 
14 












3 

27 
40 

50 
54 
57 
58 
56 

56 
57 
60 
61 

61 
65 
62 
62 

58 

62 
55 
54 
54 

52 
51 
42 

28 

6 


38 
52 












6 
13 
20 

22 
22 
23 
23 
22 

22 
23 
24 
24 

24 
24 
24 
24 

23 

23 

22 
22 
24 

24 
24 
23 
25 

25 
25 
26 

27 










6 
25 

49 
51 
55 
55 
51 

57 
57 
58 
03 

CO 
58 
58 
C3 


23 

25 
28 
29 
29 

29 
29 
29 
29 

29 
30 
29 
29 


9 

22 

25 
26 
28 
29 
28 

32 
31 
32 
32 

34 
34 
32 
33 


34 
31 
31 

31 
28 
31 
29 
18 

25 

27 
26 
26 

8 
26 
27 
27 

31 

27 
29 
30 


13 

28 

33 
37 
41 
40 
41 

41 
43 
42 
42 

42 
42 
43 
43 


12 
30 

38 
42 
42 
42 
44 

44 
44 
45 
45 

44 
43 
43 
43 
















October: 


7 


4 
11 
11 

8 


4 




5 




5 




6 


5th week 


6 


November: 


7 
7 
7 

7 
7 
7 
7 


10 
10 
10 
9 

8 
8 
8 
8 
5 

5 
5 
5 
5 


7 




6 




6 




6 


December: 


6 




5 




5 


4th week 


4 




5 


January: 


53 
57 
41 
42 
46 

44 
41 
31 

29 

3 

12 
41 
49 


28 
28 
27 
25 
26 

20 
27 
30 
30 

31 
32 
33 
33 


27 
28 
31 
31 
30 

32 
31 
32 
32 

33 

34 
32 


43 
43 
43 
42 
44 

44 
44 
40 
47 

49 
47 
47 
49 


41 
42 
43 
41 
40 

40 
42 
42 
43 

43 
43 
44 
43 


9 
10 
10 
10 

9 

9 
9 

7 
12 

14 
13 
14 
15 


14 
13 
13 
13 
12 

11 
11 
11 
13 

13 
14 
14 
13 


7 
7 
7 
7 
7 

7 
7 
7 

7 

7 
7 
7 
7 


4 




4 




4 




4 






February: 


5 
5 
5 

7 

7 
8 

8 
8 
8 


3 




4 




3 




3 


March: 


3 


2d week 


3 


3d week 


3 




3 







1 The variation in the number of weeks in the month in different shops is due to the fact that the pay 
day varies. Some shops close the books Thursdays and some Fridays. 

2 Now owned by former forewoman and conducted on somewhat smaller basis. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



97 



TABLE 28 — NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN FIVE CUSTOM SHOPS IN DIFFERENT 
YEARS, BY WEEKS— Concluded. 













Number en 


ployed in shop — 










Month and week.' 


B 


D 


F 


J 


N 




1909- 
10 


1910- 
11 


1908-9 


1909- 
10 


1910- 
11 


1908-9 


1909- 
10 


1910- 
lli 


1905-6 


1910- 
11 


1903-4 


1905-6 


1910- 
11 


April: 


53 
52 
53 
52 
52 

52 
51 
51 

50 


54 
56 

57 
58 
58 

59 

58 
57 
58 


31 

33 
31 

28 

29 
29 
30 
30 
32 

31 
31 
32 

30 


32 
33 
31 
32 

33 
34 
33 

32 


30 
32 
31 
30 
31 

31 

29 
30 

28 


4S 
49 
48 
47 

47 
44 
46 
44 
43 

41 
13 
15 


44 
44 
44 
45 
43 

43 
42 
42 

42 


27 
26 
26 
25 
25 

24 
23 
23 
23 


11 
15 
15 
12 
3 

13 
14 
13 
13 


14 
14 
14 
14 

13 
13 
13 
13 
13 

13 
13 

13 
13 


7 
7 

7 
7 

7 

7 
7 
7 
7 


8 
8 
8 
8 

8 
8 
8 
7 


4 




4 




4 




4 




4 


May: 


4 




4 


3d week 


4 


4th week 


4 


5th week 




June: 

1st week 


51 

48 
4< 
46 


57 
57 
56 
52 


30 
29 
29 

27 


27 
26 
25 

23 


35 

31 

9 


23 
23 
23 
22 


12 
12 

12 
12 


7 

7 
6 


7 

6 

5 
5 


4 
4 


2d week 


4 


3d week 


4 


5th week 








July: 


44 
41 
43 
3S 
20 


46 
44 
41 
34 
14 


32 
29 
26 
18 


25 
23 
22 


22 
19 
16 
15 






18 
12 


10 
8 
8 
5 
2 


12 
9 
7 
5 


6 
6 
6 




2d week 










3d week 










4th week 












5th week 






























Median number. . 


50 


58 


29 


31 


28 


43 


43 


23 


12 


13 


7 


8 


4 



i See notes on p. 96. 

Shop B varied but one week in the date of opening and closed in 
exactly the same week in two years. Shop F opened and closed in 
exactly the same weeks in two consecutive years, and J and N opened 
the same w T eek in 1905 and 1910 and varied but one week in closing. 
D opened on different dates in three successive years but varied only 
a week in closing. While a customer may need a wedding trousseau 
or a mourning outfit early in September or late in January, or the 
employer may decide to stay abroad or to rest until October, or 
some such cause may lengthen or shorten a particular working year, 
the seasons for the shop as a whole do not vary greatly from 
year to year. This means that the regular force of workers may 
count on a fairly uniform working season. The records of 24 of the 
35 permanent workers employed in shop D both in 1909 and 1910 
did not show a decreasing season in spite of the popular statement 
that the seasons are growing shorter. Three workers in shop J, 
whose records in 1910 could be compared with those of five years 
before, had the same working year, varying only one or two weeks 

The seasons for the median force of workers, however, varied more 
noticeably. In the large shops, B and D, the median force, although 
forming an increasing proportion of the total number employed, had 
shorter seasons in 1910 than in 1909. In the smaller shops, though, 
the median force seemed to be securing longer seasons. 
29885°— Bull. 193—16 7 



98 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Table 29.— WORKING SEASON FOR MEDIAN FORCE IN 5 SHOPS IN DIFFERENT YEARS. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Shop. 


Season. 


Number of weeks for median force in — 


1905-6 


1908-9 


1909-10 


1910-11 


B - 

D 
F 
J 


/Fall 






11 
13 
8 
18 
10 
11 


13 
11 

12 

11 • 

21 

15 

IK 
18 
13 


\Spring. . 






(Fall 




10 
20 
6 
IS 






/Fall 




1 Spring . . 




/Fall 
\Spring.. 
fFall 


12 
16 
11 

11 










iSm-ins-.. 















Turning from the working season of the median force to that of 
individual workers, no more favorable conditions are found. The 
following table shows the actual duration in a given year of each 
worker's employment in shops: 

Table 30 — LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT OF 600 CUSTOM AND 522 FACTORY WORKERS IN 
SPECIFIED SHOPS, SEPTEMBER, 1910, TO SEPTEMBER, 1911. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





Number employed in- 


Classified number 
of weeks worked. 


Custom shops. 


Manufactur- 
ing shops. 




A 


B 


C 


I) 


E 


F 


<; 


Hi 


1 
I J 


K 


L2 


M 


N 


Total. 


X 


Y 


Total. 


50 weeks and over.. . 


2 
3 

10 

3 

2 

19 
28 
25 
16 




















2 
29 
100 
53 
35 
32 
17 
39 

55 

85 

72 
4 


4 

10 
1 
1 

4 

4 

3 

4 

5 

12 
16 
12 


22 
29 
14 
12 
28 
11 
18 
19 

36 

72 
102 
S3 


26 


45 and under 50 
weeks 


25 

3 

5 

3 

12 

11 
13 

8 
7 


3 

11 

5 

3 

3 

2 

1 

5 
5 
5 

13 




2 
6 

1 

1 

2 

1 

5 

6 
7 
12 
12 
1 


3 
9 

3 
1 
1 
2 

3 
3 
5 

2 


1 
4 5 

. . 

2 ! 3 

i 

.... 1 
3 


5 
2 
2 

1 

1 


2 


2 

*3 


2 
1 


39 


40 and under 15 


11 
3 

2 

2 

5 
5 
10 


'13 
8 

3 
2 

I 

4 
1 


16 

2 

3 

1 

.... 

"i" 


15 


35 and under 40 
weeks 


13 


30 and under 33 


3 


3 
1 


32 


25 and under 30 


15 


20 and under 25 
weeks 


1 
4 


1 

3 


21 


15 and under 20 


1 

1 

2 
2 


1 

T 


1 

2 

1 

2 


23 


10 and under 15 
weeks 


9 3 

7 2 
3 | 2 

...J.... 


41 


5 and under 10 weeks 
2 and under 5 weeks. 
1 week or under 


81 
118 
95 








2 






127 










| 












Total 


99 


59 


45 


39 


29 


56 


35 


37 25 


11 


11 


17 


10 


600 


76 


446 


522 











1 Shop H covers the calendar year of 1911. 

2 Shop L covers the year from March, 1911, to March, 1912, because the firm had dissolved partnership 
and started on a new basis just previous to this period. 

While 90 per cent of the people employed in shop K worked six 
months or more, only 26.7 per cent in shop A had such good fortune. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADF FOE WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



99 



Taking the group as a whole, but 41.8 per cent of the 600 custom 
workers and only 26.8 per cent of the 522 factory workers studied on 
pay rolls for a year period worked six months or more in a single shop. 

Only 21.8 per cent of the custom and 15.3 per cent of the factory 
workers were emploj-ed for as much as 40 weeks, the characteristic 
trade year, in one shop. 

The figures taken from the United States census, it will be remem- 
bered, showed a six-months working season for the median force. 
How far this differs from the season of the individual worker is shown 
by the following table, which gives the percentage of the working 
force employed 25 weeks or more, 25 weeks being about, half a working 
year: 



Table 31. 



-STABILITY OF FORCE FOR ONE YEAR IX 14 CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 
2 MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Shop. 


Tot;il 

number 

employed 

during 

year. 


Working 
and 


25 weeks 
>ver. 


Working under 25 
weeks. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Custom: 

A 


127 
99 
59 
45 
39 
29 
56 
35 

25 

11 

11 
17 
10 


34 
45 
25 
21 
21 
24 
12 
19 
12 
11 
10 
5 
9 
3 


26.8 

45, 5 
42.4 

46. 7 
53. 9 
82. 8 
21.4 
54.3 
32.4 
44.0 

9a 9 

45. 5 
52. 9 
30.0 


93 

54 
3-! 
24 
18 
5 
44 
16 
25 
14 
1 
6 
8 


73.2 
54.5 
57.6 
53.3 
46.1 
17.2 
78.6 
45. 7 
67.6 
56.0 
9.0 
54. 5 
47.1 
70.0 


B 


c 


D 


jg 


F 


G 


H 


I 


J 


K 


L 


M 


N 


Total 

Manufacturing: 
X 


600 


251 


41.8 


349 


58. 2 


76 
446 


24 
116 


31.6 
26. 


52 
330 


68.4 
74.0 


Y 


Total 


522 


140 


26.8 


382 


73.2 



In only 5 of the 14 shops was as much as half of the force employed 
for 25 weeks, while the two factories showed each less than one-third 
of their force so employed. Only a trifle over two-fifths of the work- 
ers in custom shops were employed as long as 25 weeks, while hardly 
over one-fourth of the factory workers were in this group. 

The working year is divided, as has been seen, into two seasons, 
spring and fall. This has a double effect upon the workers. The 
seasons seldom coincide in any two shops, since the demands of the 
customers of each establishment determine the time when its work is 
most pressing and when, as a result, the greatest number is employed. 
This variation in the time at which they are required in the different 



100 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



shops enables many workers to shift from one shop to another, thus 
securing a longer season than they would have in only one. On the 
other hand, the division of the working year into two distinct seasons 
means for many of the workers a lay-off twice a year, with the attend- 
ant disadvantages of loss of wages, interruption to habits of regularity, 
encouragement to instability and restlessness, and the like. The fol- 
lowing table shows the possibility of prolonging a short season by 
transferring from one shop to another: 

Table 32.— DATES OF OPENING AND CLOSING OF FALL AND SPRING SEASONS FOR 
MEDIAN FORCE OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN 14 CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 2 
MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON, SEPTEMBER, 1910, TO SEPTEMBER, 1911. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Shop. 



Custom: 
A... 



B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
F. 
G. 
H. 
I.. 
J.. 
K. 
L. 
M. 
N. 



Manufacturing: 
X 



Me- 
dian 
num- 
ber. 



25 
134 



Fall season. 1 



Began- 



4th week of 

September. 
3d week of 

October. 
4ih week of 

September. 
2d week of 

November. 
1st week of 

November. 
3d week of 

October. 
4th week of 

September 
2d week of 

October. 
2d week of 

November. 
3d week of 

October. 
1st week of 

November. 
4th week of 

September 
1st week of 

November. 
1st week of 

October. 

3d week of 
September 

1st week of 
September 



Closed— 



3d week of 

December. 
1st week of 

January. 
3d week of 

December. 
4th week of 

December. 
1st week of 

January. 
1st week of 

January. 
2d week of 

January. 
2d week of 

November 
4th week of 

November 
4th week of 

January. 
5th week of 

December. 
4th week of 

January. 
1st week of 

January. 
4th week of 

January. 

2d week of 
November. 

1st week of 
November. 



Spring season. 1 



Began— 



1st week of 

March. 
2d week of 

April. 
1st week of 

March. 
1st week of 

March. 
1st week of 

February. 
4th week of 

January. 
1st week of 

April. 
1st week of 

January. 
3d week of 

February. 
4th week of 

February. 
4th week of 

February. 
1st week of 

April. 
3d week of 

January. 
1st week" of 

April. 

4th week of 
February. 

2d week of 
January. 



Closed— 



1st week of 

June. . 
3d week of 

June. 
3d week of 

May. 
4th week of 

May. 
2d week of 

June. 
3d week of 

June. 
4th v/eek of 

June. 
1st week of 

July. 
2d week of 

July. 
4th week of 

June. 
1st week of 

June. 
2d week of 

July. 
5th week of 

June. 
4th week of 

June. 

4th week of 

June. 
4th week of 

April. 



Weeks employed. 



Fall 
sea- 
son. 


Spring 
sea- 
son. 


13 


14 


13 


11 


12 


11 


7 


12 


8 


IS 


11 


21 


17 


13 


4 


23 


3 


21 


15 


IS 


7 


15 


18 


14 


10 


24 


IS 


13 


9 


18 


10 


15 



"olal. 



1 The working force occasionally drops below the median number employed. (See Table 23.) 

The fall season coincides in only three pairs of shops — A and C, 
B and F, and E and M — while only shops G and N have the same 
spring season. Occasionally workers in the shops having a fall season 
of only from 3 to 8 weeks have a chance of further employment in 
the shops having a season of 13, 15, or 18 weeks. In the spring the 
difference in length of seasons is not so marked as in the fall, but there 
is still the opportunity for dovetailing work in two or more shops. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 101 

This table also emphasizes the brevity of the working season for 
most of the employees, unless they can find some such method of 
lengthening it. In shops A, C, G, and L the median force was 
assembled by the fourth week of September, but not until October 
and November in the majority, while already in November and 
December the process of disorganization was beginning. In the 14 
custom shops and 2 factories, 6 retained the median force less than 
10 weeks in the fall and 12 provided less than 15 weeks' fail season. 
All through January, February, March, and April, the median force 
was being assembled for the spring season and through May, June, 
and July was being turned off. The spring season provided a longer 
working period, none of the 16 establishments having less than 10 
weeks, while 9 had a spring season of 15 weeks or more. One-half 
the 14 custom shops had a fall season of 12 weeks or more and a 
spring season of 15 weeks or more for the median force. However, 
if the large shops A to G, which employ three-fourths of the workers, 
are separately considered, the fall season in but one instance, and the 
spring season in but two instances, exceeded 15 weeks for tho median 
force, which again illustrates how short is the working period avail- 
able to the mass of workers. The manufacturing shops provided 
very similar seasons for their median force, 9 and 10 weeks in the 
fall, and 15 and 18 weeks in the spring. 

The fall and spring busy seasons alternate with the midwinter and 
midsummer dull seasons, causing dispersal or diminution of the force 
twice a year. The majority of custom shops close entirely during 
midsummer, but the midwinter season is usually a bridging over until 
the spring rush comes on. The fashionable clientele await the new 
spring models before giving orders, so the employer in shop B must 
go abroad in February and her shop is closed, except for the office 
force, for two weeks. The owner of shop D goes to New York for a 
week to see the new spring models. For similar reasons, the ma- 
jority of even the most valuable workers in large shops like A and 
B have an enforced winter vacation of four weeks. Table 33 shows 
the extent to which the midwinter vacation prevailed in the shops 
studied. In four of the 14 custom shops and one of the two fac- 
tories, more than one-half the force was laid off one week or more 
in midwinter. In shop A, although a commercialized shop, 66 per 
cent of the workers who were employed throughout the year were 
laid off in midwinter with a median vacation of four weeks. In the 
medium-sized shops like E, F, and G, the majority of the force were 
held and in the smaller shops like M and N the whole force remained 
intact. 



102 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Tujle 33.-RELATI0N OF MIDWINTER SLACK SEASON TO UNEMPLOYMENT IN 14 
CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 2 MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON. 
[Based on pay rolls.] 













Workers employed both 


seasons. 










Workers em- 
ployed one 










• 






Not laid off in 


Laid off one 




Total 


Maxi- 


season or less. 






winter. 


week or more. 




number 

em- 
ployed 


number 

em- 
ploye! 
during 

year. 




Num- 


Per 

cent of 

total 








Shop. 


1 *«. 




Per 
cent of 




Per 

cent of 




during 
year. 


Num- 
ber. 


cent oi 

total 

number 


ber. 


number 

em- 
ployed. 


Num- 
ber. 


number 

em- 
ployed 


Num- 
ber. 


number 

em- 
ployed 


















both 




both 










ployed. 






' 


seasons. 




seasons. 


Custom: 






















A 


127 


62 


88 


69.3 


39 


30.7 


13 


33.3 


26 


66.7 


B 


99 


65 


51 


51.5 


48 


48.5 


1 


2.1 


47 


97.9 


C 


159 


35 


31 


52.5 


27 


45.8 


14 


51.8 


13 


48.2 


D 


45 


34 


22 


48.9 


23 


51.1 


4 


17.4 


19 


82.6 


E 


39 


29 


18 


46.2 


21 


53.8 


15 


71.4 


25 


23.8 


F 


29 


27 


5 


17.2 


24 


82.8 


20 


83.3 


4 


16.7 


G 


156 


27 


42 


75.0 


13 


23.2 


10 


76.9 


3 


23.1 


II. 


35 


23 


17 


4S. 6 


IS 


51.4 


18 


100.0 






I 


37 
25 
11 
11 
17 
10 


19 
17 
11 

S 
11 


26 
12 
1 

11 


70.3 
48.0 
9.1 
45. 5 
64.7 
70.0 


11 
13 
10 
6 
6 
3 


29.7 
52.0 
90.9 
54.5 
35.3 
30.0 


6 
9 
5 


54.5 
69.2 
50.0 


5 
4 
5 
6 


45.5 


J 


30.8 


K 


50.0 


L 


100.0 


M 


6 
3 


100.0 
100.0 




N 






Manufacturing: 






X 


76 
446 


37 
178 


42 

283 


55.3 
63.5 


34 
163 


41.7 
36.5 


14 

133 


41.2 
81.6 


20 
30 


58.8 


Y 


18.4 







i One unclassified. 



2 Not including special Qnislier not called in. 



This midwinter break is an important cause contributing to shifting 
and instability. The majority of the custom workers are laid off 
one or two weeks and the factory workers four weeks, during which 
time some find other employment and do not return. In all but 2 
of the 14 custom shops more than 45 per cent of the workers appear- 
ing on the pay roll during a year worked in that shop one season or 
less, while in the two factories more than 50 per cent did not work 
more than one season. 

The extent to which the individual worker is affected by the dull 
season is shown by the following table : 

Table 34 NUMBER OF WEEKS' "LAY OFF" IN MIDWINTER FOR WORKERS IN 10 

CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 2 MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON, SEPTEMBER, 
1910, TO SEPTEMBER. 1911. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





Number of workers losing — 


Median 
number 
of weeks 

lost by 
workers. 


Shop. 


1 week. 


2 weeks. 


3 weeks. 


4 weeks. 5 weeks. 


6 weeks. 


More 

than 

6 weeks. 


Custom: 

A 


6 
4 
6 
14 
1 
1 
2 


1 

20 
2 
4 
2 
1 
1 
1 
3 


1 

12 
2 


6 6 

7 2 


1 
1 
1 
1 
1 


5 
I 
2 


4 


B 


2 


C 


2 


D 


I 


1 


F 








2 


G 




( 


1 

2 


2 


I 




i 




2 


J 


3 
1 






3 


K 








1 

5 

10 


3 


L 




1 

6 

21 






6 


Manufacturing: 

X . .. 




o 

8 


2 
1 






4 


Y 






4 


















Total 


34 


45 


22 


41 


8 


5 


27 


35 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 103 

Of the 182 workers considered, over two-fifths (44.5 per cent) lost 
four weeks or more and over one-eighth (14.8 per cent) lost more than 
six weeks. The midwinter dull season is therefore a problem demand- 
ing solution from both employer and worker, and various schemes 
have been devised by ingenious employers to avoid the economic waste 
of a scattered labor force. Two methods are most common in the 
medium-sized shops — first, offering inducements to customers to bring 
in work, and, second, alternating the workers on one or two weeks' 
vacations. The middle-class dressmakers have their own clothes made, 
alter gowns of the regular customers, and make up garments at 
reduced rates. 1 One of the most fashionable French dressmakers, 
with a force of 25 workers, made gowns at a lower rate in these two 
months and could scarcely fill the orders. Another large firm said, 
"We take in a good many gowns at $50 apiece to keep the force busy 
as much as possible." The profits are less, but the maintenance of a 
steady force and the opportunity to meet current expenses justify the 
effort. Wedding or mourning orders or a new outfit for a trip South 
are often available in January and February for the employer who 
keeps the shop open. A fashionable dressmaker, employing 55 work- 
ers, said: "The southern season is doing much toward filling in and 
tiding over January and February, formerly dull months." Many 
employers who have ingenuity and originality can give their cus- 
tomers what they wish without waiting for the latest decrees from 
Paris, and the delay and rush of the later season are thus avoided by 
the customer. 

Some of the large firms have sought to solve the seasonal problem 
by widening their field and adding a tailoring department. "We 
have an increasingly shorter dull season in the winter because of our 
tailored suit department," said one large employer. "The tailored 
suits necessitate waists to go with them and provide work for the 
dressmaking department." The pay rolls of these shops show fre- 
quent instances where the mediocre worker, finisher, or helper is 
transferred from one department to another as the season progresses, 
thus lengthening her working season considerably. An interesting 
suggestion of future possibilities appears in the example of a few 
dressmakers who follow their customers to resorts and set up shop 
for the season. They take only a portion of their force, but all who 
have done so reported quite as busy a season as they desired. 2 The 
large fashionable commercialized shops are developing custom 
through salesmen who are sent to the fashionable summer and winter 

1 Speaking of unemployment in London, Miss Black says: "In what would be slack seasons, i. e., 
In January and September, regular customers may have their own materials made up, and this device 
helps to keep work going, though little or no profits are madft." Makers of our Clothes, by Meyer and 
Black, p. 86. 

2 See similarity of seasons in the dressmaking trade of Paris. France, Office du Travail. La Petite 
Industrie, Vol. II, I.e Vetenient a, Paris, p. 412 et seii. 



104 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

resorts, where they sell ready-to-wear clothing or take orders from 
customers. Such ventures may in time become much more common 
and have two good results — lengthening and equalizing the working 
season. Alternating the workers on one or two weeks' vacations in 
midwinter is also a common method of equalizing the midwinter 
season and falls heavily on none, 1 as the girls are often glad of an 
opportunity to furbish up their own wardrobes. 

Other shops, however, make no attempt to solve the problem, 
either from a belief that economy consists in putting the orders 
through at high speed and dropping the employees as rapidly as they 
can be dispensed with, or because of lack of administrative ability 
and ingenuity. The proprietor of a large shop which had a gloomy 
deserted appearance in midwinter said, "Some people get work in 
early, but we never do. People usually want to wait until the Paris 
styles come in before having new things made. Customers come to 
me sometimes before the arrival of the Parisian models and ask if 
we think such and such will be stylish. We usually say, ' Wait and 
see.' I have no faith in the present-day theories and attempts to 
establish American styles. The French always have, and I believe 
always will, set the styles." The reason why this dressmaker has 
short seasons is easily discovered. The "wait and see" policy quite 
precludes "getting work in early." 2 The majority of custom dress- 
makers seem to be able to cater to a sufficiently varied clientele to 
adjust the midwinter dull season fairly satisfactorily, but the less 
progressive and original employer sits with folded hands and a closed 
shop and complains that the seasons grow shorter and shorter. 
Likewise the ambitious and capable worker can secure fairly satis- 
factory working seasons, but the mediocre and incompetent, the very 
young and the very old, are tossed about with every rise and fall of 
demand. 

The midsummer vacation is a still more important factor in the 
custom dressmaking trade, because it means a longer period of idle- 
ness for a larger number. The majority of shops are closed through 
July and August, though many workers have been laid off earlier. 
The force, thus scattered for several months, is not easily assembled 
in September and October, and many new names are discovered 
on the pay rolls in the fall. Table 35 shows the extent of this 
dispersion in seven of the shops studied. In the large shops A and D 

1 See report of similar adjustments. Great Britain, Royal Commission on Labor. Conditions of Work 
in Scotland, by Margaret Irwin. 

2 Miss Black, after making her study of the trade in London, in 1908, says: "Few employers seem to 
have devised any effective way of grappling with the grave problem of seasonal irregularity " (p. 175), 
but reports one employer filling in slack time in February with theatrical costumes, which are "made a 
month or more earlier than the opening of the fashionable season and in the dead month of September. 
. . . the workers whom she keeps on during such periods are those whose need is greatest . . . some- 
times she is able to send girls for a week or more to work in the country houses of her customers, and 
she makes a point of sending those whom she knows to be dependent on their own earnings." Makers of 
our Clothes, by Meyer and Black, p. 85. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



105 



only about one-third of the workers and in shop G 49 per cent of 
those employed in the spring of 1911 were found in the same shops 
the following fall. 

Table 35.— NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN 7 CUSTOM SHOPS IN THE SPRING 
SEASON OF 1911 AND PROPORTION WHO RETURNED IN THE FALL AFTER THE 
SUMMER VACATION. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Shop. 


Total 

number 

employed 

in the 

spring 

season, 

1911. 


Ter cent 
returning 

in the 

fall season, 

1911. 


Per cent 
of those 
returning 
who earn 
$9 or less. 


A 

D 

G 

H 

K 

L 

M 


09 
44 
33 
23 
11 
8 
4 


32 
39 
49 

78 
72 
75 
75 


68 
47 
68 
41 

75 
67 
67 



In these three large shops, 1 typifying several stages of development, 
less than 50 per cent of the working force employed in the spring of 
1911 returned after the summer vacation. 

The working force of the smaller shops H, K, L, and M, employing a 
maximum of less than 25, are much less affected by the summer 
vacation because of the closer personal relation between employer 
and worker, the steadier and longer working season, and the main- 
tenance of a fairly permanent force of regular workers. About 
throe-fourths of the force employed in the spring returned for the 
fall season in these shops. Even the stable workers are not all 
highly skilled or well paid. In all but two of the seven shops the 
majority of former workers returning in the fall earned a weeldy wage 
of $9 or less. 

The pay-roll records of several shops for a period of two or more 
3^ears throw some light on this instability of the labor force. In 
shop B, 50 per cent of a total force of 96 employed in 1910-11 re- 
turned for work the following year. In shop D, 40 per cent of the 55 
workers on the pay roll during 1908-9 returned to work the following 
year, and 49 per cent of a total of 65 employed in 1909-10 returned 
to work the next year. Only 26.2 per cent of the workers employed 
in 1908-9 were still on the pay roll two years later. In shop F, 38 
per cent of a force of 58 ernploj-ed in 1908 returned the following 
year, but the total force of 1909 returned in 1910 without the defec- 
tion of a single worker. Only 41 per cent of the total number, 76, 
employed in 1910-11 in the small wholesale manufacturing shop X 
were still at work the following fall, though the shop working year 
is 52 weeks. In shop J, three workers of the force employed in 1905 

i "Large shop" used in thi; report applies to shops employing a maximum of more than 25 workers. 



106 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



wore still at work in the same shop in 1910 and in shop N one of tho 
force of 1903 was still in the shop in 1910, seven years later. 

INSTABILITY OF THE LABOR FORCE. 

As different types of shops luvve characteristic working seasons, 
so may the three type groups of workers anticipate fairly definite 
periods of employment. As has already been pointed out, 1 the work- 
ing force falls into three groups : the nucleus of regular workers, with 
a working season of 40 weeks or more; the finishers or helpers, laid 
off twice a year, with a working season of 25 to 39 weeks; and the 
rush hands or drifters, employed less than 25 weeks. A survey of 600 
custom and 522 factory workers shows the surprising fact that 58 per 
cent of the custom and 73 per cent of the factory employees worked in 
a single shop less than 25 weeks. These short-time workers are for 
the most part the "casual laborers" of the trade. They are workers 
without a trade, though they may know how to handle a needle. 
Especially is this true of the large group, 39 per cent of the 600 custom 
workers and 57 per cent of the 522 factory workers, who were em- 
ployed in one shop less than 10 weeks. One-fourth of the custom 
and two-fifths of the factory workers stayed less than five weeks and 
12 per cent of the custom workers as compared with 18 per cent of the 
factory employees remained but one week or loss. 

Table 36 EXTENT OF '•'CASUAL LABOR" IN CUSTOM AND FACTORY DRESSMAKING. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Length of employ- 
ment in individ- 
ual shops. 


Custom shops. 


Manufacturing shops. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Under 25 weeks . . . 
Under 10 weeks. . . 

Under 5 weeks 

1 week or under . . . 


349 

236 

151 

74 


58.2 
39.3 
2.5.2 

12.3 


382 
297 
213 
95 


73. 2 
56.9 
41.0 
18.2 



This mass of floating unskilled workers is one of the gravest phases 
of the labor problem to-day, and while probably greater in the 
unskilled industries, 2 it is more serious in a skilled trade which must 
have trained and responsible workers. 

i See p. 66. 

2 Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education, No. 17. A Trade School for Girls— A PreLiuvinary 
Investigation in a Typical Manufacturing City, Worcester, Mass. Washington, 1913, pp. 29, 30. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEX IN MASSACHUSETTS. 107 

The .following table shows the reasons assigned by 271 workers 
for leaving their positions : 

Table 37 — REASONS GIVEN FOR LEAVING POSITIONS IN DRESSMAKING SHOPS. 
[Based on personal interviews.] 



Reason for leaving position. 


Positions left. 


Number. 


Per cent. 




63 


23. 2 




116 


42. 3 




42 
31 

2", 

11 

3 

1 








Firm went out of business 




Unsatisfactory shop conditions 

" Didn't succeed" 






Strike ' 








92 


31.0 


" Didn't like it " 


51 
23 
10 
5 
3 




















Total 




271 


10D. 





1 Tailor shop. 

It will be seen that fluctuation of demand, though important, is 
by no means the sole cause of unemployment. Less than one-fourth 
of the positions reported on had to bo given up because of the end of 
the season. Forty-three per cent of the workers left because of 
other industrial causes and 34 for personal reasons. 

Therefore, while dressmaking is a markedly seasonal trade, the 
seasons by no means explain the startling instability observed among 
the workers. Three-fourths of the reasons ascribed for leaving work 
were such as might be found in any industry. 1 

Four underlying causes, however, may be noted as especially 
applicable to the instability discovered in the dressmaking trade: 
(1) The seasonal fluctuations, (2) inadequate opportunity for acquir- 
ing skill and for advancement, (3) the increasing necessity for a high 
standard of workmanship and the inability of many workers to 
measure up to the demands, and (1) peculiar conditions in particular 
shops. 

(1) The semiannual dispersal of the shop force throws a great 
mass of employees out of work twice a year, and, having found other 
positions, they frequently do not return to their former employer 
when needed. 

(2) The poor opportunities for learning the trade are an important 
cause of the instability of workers. Few shops offer the young girl 

i Miss Van Kleeck found that nearly 60 per cent of the 353 positions in bookbinding and the same 
proportion for 214 positions in the making of artificial flowers had been left for other than seasonal causes. 
Women in the Bookbinding Trade, p. 112, and Artificial Flower Makers, p. 49, by Mary Van Kleeck. 



108 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

systematic training and she must "pick up'' her trade as best slie 
can. Unless very ''bright/' as the dressmaker expresses it, her 
employer, or the head girl under whom she works, refuses to allow 
her to remain at all, and unless very ambitious she seldom conquers 
the obstacles in the path to the skilled processes. If she does not 
develop beyond the stage of the plain sewer, her tenure is always 
insecure, because the least valuable worker is last taken on and first 
turned off. The art of dressmaking can not be quickly acquired 
and the majority of young workers, being impatient, believe they are 
not advanced by their employer as rapidly as they should be. The 
very common practice is to spend a short time in one shop acquiring 
the fundamentals and then to apply for a position at another shop 
as an experienced worker. While an employer may sometimes lose 
sight of the advancement of an employee who has grown up in the 
shop, and while a new employee has a certain opportunity for bar- 
gaining, the girl with such inadequate training and experience soon 
finds herself at a disadvantage in competition with the really experi- 
enced workers and becomes a drifter. She never becomes valuable 
enough to her employer to merit her interest or confidence, the 
drifting habit grows, and her incapacity dooms her to short seasons 
and irregular work. Thus 29 per cent of the 271 positions were left 
because of low pay, because the worker wanted a better position, or 
because she "didn't succeed." The employer, as a rule, sees little 
advantage and has little desire to cooperate in the movement for 
training workers in the shop because of the unreliable and uncertain 
tenure by which she holds her workers. "I started an errand girl 
two years ago at $3 a week," said one employer. "She is now get- 
ting $6 and was to get $7 at the beginning of the year, but she wants 
to leave now. Girls don't stick to it steadily. They are always 
wanting to go somewhere else, continually changing. Girls can't 
be depended on. I had one woman eight years; suddenly in the 
midst of the season she left with no reason." 

The uncertainty of their tenure of work is, on the other hand, one 
of the grievances of subordinate workers and for this reason they feel 
no compunction in leaving whenever a better opportunity appears. 
"Saturday night when I received my pay I was told I need not come 
back on Monday," said one girl. "It is almost impossible to keep the 
books straight," said the bookkeeper of a large fashionable shop in 
dull season. "On Saturday evening I am notified to drop six or 
seven workers off the pay roll." Subordinate workers say they 
never know from one week to the next when they will be notified 
that their services are no longer needed. The advantage of mobility 
to the worker, therefore, depends largely on individual circumstances. 
In general, it may be said that the young girl who starts in the small 
shop should, after acquiring a good all-round experience, go to the 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 109 

large shop for the wider experience in methods of handling finer and 
more expensive materials, and the opportunity for advancement 
offered there. The young girl who starts in the large shop has the 
opportunity lor a broad experience if she can conquer the obstacles 
and advance from one process to another. Unless she is especially 
bright or adapted to the work she will receive little help from her 
superiors. Most of the highly paid or skilled workers visited, how- 
ever, had worked in very few shops, occasionally only one. They 
had worked up from the bottom and made themselves indispensable 
to their employers. 

(3) Moreover, the increasing demands of the trade for superior 
workmanship have made it very difficult for the unskilled worker to 
hold a placo. The increasing complexity of the artistic side of custom 
dressmaking is a universally recognized fact. Dressmakers and inves- 
tigators, both at home and abroad, maintain that the trade has 
become an art, so a decreasing number are qualified to meet the 
requirements. But women when in need still, as in the past, turn 
to the trade as their natural domain. They are taken on and tried 
out, but only a small proportion can qualify for even the drifting type 
of helper. The worker who can turn her hand to anything can in 
reality turn her hand to only the most commonplace plain sewing. 
Alteration departments of stores carrying ready-made wear now 
attract large numbers of these mediocre workers. Factories and 
dressmaking shops which employ home workers supply some of these 
women with work, the embroidery on custom-made dresses being 
often done by workers in the homes. Philanthropic needlewomen's 
societies provide the most hopeless with work. Some of the local 
dressmakers believe that the artistic development of the trade com- 
bined with the lack of opportunity for workers to secure the requisite 
training primarily explains the unsatisfactory labor situation. 

(4) Finally, the instability of the worker may be due to conditions 
in particular shops. Thirty-two per cent of the 271 positions were 
left for these reasons — "firm went out of business," unsatisfactory 
shop conditions, and ' ' didn't like it." Some shops have short seasons, 
much overtime, and an absence of system which involves the shop in 

a continual flux. "X 's is hopelessly confused and mixed up. 

There is constant doing over and overlapping of work. There is a 
great deal of overtime there." "I wouldn't advise my worst enemy 

to work at X 's," said a head girl in the same shop, "and yet 

Miss X is delightful personally." Insufficient capital results 

in irregularity and uncertainty of pay. Many employers are going 
out of business. The forewoman in one shop has a "terrible temper." 
Workers are laid off in one shop, fill in a few weeks at another, have 
some personal grievance in another, hear they can get higher pay in 
another, and so drift from shop to shop. The large establishments 



110 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



carry a certain prestige, offer wider social contact, assure regular pay, 
and in some cases, as in some commercialized shops and alteration 
departments, have longer seasons. These conditions all complicate 
the labor problem. 

The stability of individual workers for a long period of time is 
not easily ascertained, for while reports from some are unquestionably 
accurate, others have drifted about so much they can not remember. 
A suggestive report on the number of shops worked in (excluding 
temporary positions of a few days) was secured from 200 workers 
personally visited. The following table shows the results obtained: 

Table 38 — NUMBER OF SHOPS IX WHICH 200 WORKERS HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED, BY 

LENGTH OF EXPERIENCE. 

[Based on personal interviews.] 



Number of years in the trade. 


Number of wot 


tors h iv 


Itig been employ 
shops-. 


sd in specified number of 


1 shop. 


2 shops. 


3 shops. 


i shops. 


S shops 


6 shops 
or more. 


Unclas- 
sified. 


Total. 




8 
6 

2 

6 
2 

3 


11 
9 
3 
3 
4 
1 

i 


i 

'a 

3 
3 
1 

3 

4 
'> 

3 










17 




4 

1 
1 

i 
l 

3 


.......... 


1 


31 




4 
1 
1 




24 




3 
3 




23 




11 




11 




1 
3 






7 




1 




6 


8 and under 9 years 




1 




6 






5 






I 


2 
6 
1 
•> 

i 


1 
2 

1 


7 




2 


1 

2 
2 

1 


11 




3 
1 


i 

1 


21 






11 






6 










3 












Total 


30 


53 


51 


23 


16 


22 


5 


200 







The instability of the young workers employed in the trade less 
than five years is at once apparent. More than one-half those em- 
ployed less than one year had worked in more than one shop. More 
than one-half those at work two years had worked in more than two 
shops. The older workers of eight years' experience or more con- 
stituted one-third (33.5 per cent) of the 200 studied, and less than 
one- third (31.4 per cent) of these had worked in more than four 
shops. One-half of those with less than five years' experience, as well 
as of those with ten years' or more, had worked in two to three shops. 
The young workers find it difficult to meet the demands of the trade, 
and the employers, driven by competition and worry, have little 
patience with the girl who '•'must be shown how" or who " waits to 
be told what to do and how to do it." Consequently she is almost 
forced to become a drifter. Present, day conditions in the trade also 
may make it advisable to work in different shops, some of which 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. Ill 

offer better opportunity for acquiring the principles of the trade, 
and others for securing advancement. 

It was stated in the beginning of this chapter that irregular em- 
ployment in the dressmaking trade is due both to seasonal fluctuations 
and to the instability of the force. The foregoing discussion has 
shown that seasonal fluctuation has a very serious effect upon the 
individual worker, making her period of employment both brief and 
of uncertain duration. The control of this element of irregularity lies 
mainly in the hands of the employer and the customer. Several 
methods have been mentioned by which the employer can modify the 
seasonal character of the trade, while careful forethought and con- 
sideration on the part of the customer would do much to prevent the 
massing of orders into two brief seasons. Something might be done 
also by an outside agency. Since the seasons of different types of 
shops do not coincide, much waste of time and loss of earnings might 
be prevented by an efficient labor bureau through wliich workers laid 
off from one shop could be directed at once to the shops of another 
type where they were needed. 

But when investigation shows that more than one-third of the 
custom and one-half the factory workers are employed in a particular 
shop less than ten weeks and one-fourth the custom and two-fifths the 
factory workers less than five weeks, it is obvious that the seasonal 
demand is by no means the only reason for irregular employment. 
Two causes for this instability given by workers and employers — lack 
of opportunity to learn the trade and the inability of the workers 
to measure up to the demand — offer suggestions to the educator and 
social worker for a constructive program. The trade no longer 
provides opportunity for training its workers, yet it increasingly 
demands greater skill and ability. Both employer and worker are 
struggling with the problem, but they will doubtless have to be 
aided by an outside agency wliich can provide publicly supported 
industrial training. 



CHAPTER V. 

OVERTIME IN THE DRESSMAKING TRADE. 

The fashion trades in addition to the semiannual rush of work 
have the consequent problem of overtime. The accumulation of 
orders which must be rushed through frequently necessitates working 
after the regular closing hour. "The tendency to put off giving 
orders to the last moment is easily checked," reported the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science, "when the customers 
can be met with universal legal prohibition." 1 Has experience in 
Massachusetts corroborated this comforting statement? 

The ordinary working day in the dressmaking shops in Boston is a 
nine-hour day. The majority of shops open at 8 a. m. and close at 
5.30 p. m., though some of the larger shops work from 8 a. m. to 
6 p. m. with one hour's rest at noon. The law in Massachusetts in 
1909, when this investigation was started, permitted a ten-hour 
working day, limited by the 58-hour week for children between 14 and 
18 years and for women. In January, 1910, the legal working week 
was changed to 56 hours, with the exception that where "the em- 
ployment is by seasons" it may exceed 56 but not 58 hours, the total 
number per week not to exceed an average of 56 per week for the 
whole year. 

What is a trade in which the employment is by seasons ? Lawsuits 
arose all over the State, but no definition of a trade where "the 
employment is by seasons" was given. The legislature was occupied 
with the definition of its own law for two years, and before the 
definition had been secured the new law providing for an unqualified 
54-hour week went into effect. That law would have greatly sim- 
plified the work of the inspectors and have enabled the workers to dis- 
tinguish between illegal overtime and permissible overtime, but it was 
allowed to remain on the statute books for only one year. The next 
year, 1913, the seasonal exceptio'n was slipped back into the new lav/, 
which provided for a 54-hour week but allowed a 58-hour week 
in manufacturing industries where "the employment is by seasons." 
The question is, Is dressmaking a trade where the employment is 
by seasons? Officials in the department of the district police, as 
well as different inspectors, denied that dressmaking should come 

1 Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1903, p. 321. 
29885°— Bull. 193—16—8 113 



114 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

under this protecting clause. What were the dressmakers themselves 
doing about it at the time of the investigation? Twenty-six per 
cent of 182 dressmakers posted their time schedules providing 
for a 58-hour week. The largest proportion (39 per cent) provided 
for a 56-hour week, and 31 per cent posted a 54-hour week schedule. 
The firms did not necessarily work every day the full number of 
hours posted, but could at any time work the full number posted 
on the schedule, for such overtime would seem to be perfectly legal. 

The word "overtime" as used by the employees therefore might 
mean either time worked beyond the ordinary nine-hour day or time 
worked beyond the legal limit of 58 hours a week. Many girls did not 
know the difference. 1 They knew that "a woman goes around" and 
occasionally their employer was discovered working and fined, but 
they were unable to keep pace with legislation regarding hours of 
labor. Miss Collet reported that the workers of the trade in London, 
when informed that "the overtime complained of is permissible by the 
act if 'due notice is given,' . . . have in each case seemed to 
accept overtime as a necessary evil, and have never suggested that 
the act needed alteration. This submission to the law is most 
strikingly illustrated by a girl who, speaking very warmly in favor 
of her employers, said that it was quite true that the}' worked them 
overtime in the season, but they were compelled to do so by the 
factory act." 2 

Overtime may be the result of a variety of factors, but the exigencies 
of the patrons are the primary causes of illegal overtime in a custom 
trade. The large dressmaker has a stock of expensive materials, 
and it is to her interest to dispose of them. If a customer gives a 
belated order for a gown from some of these materials, the dressmaker 
can not afford to lose it. "I sometimes take an order that I know 
I can not finish without working overtime," said one dressmaker, 
"but I have the materials in stock and I must dispose of them. 
The inspector came the other evening, but fortunately I had closed 
up. If she had come almost any other evening this week, she would 
have caught us working." 

Failure to organize the work systematically may also lead to over- 
time. Some well-regulated shops open and close like clockwork, 
and workers who have been employed for years have never known 
five minutes' overtime. Others are unanimously reported by the 
workers as regular offenders. There are not sufficient workers and 
the work is poorly systematized; consequently, the gowns are not 
completed at the specified time and the workers must finish them 

1 Miss Collet reported a similar situationin England. Great Britain, Royal Commission of Labor. Con- 
ditions oi Work in London, by Clara E. Collet, p. 13. See also Le Travail de Nuit des Femmes, par 
Georges Alfassa, en Revue de Paris, Sept. 15, 1901, pp. 368, 3G9. 

2 Great Britain, Royal Commission of Labor. Conditions of Work in London, by Clara E. Collet, p. 13. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR .WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 115 

before they go home at night. "There is a great deal of overtime at 

A 's," said one girl. "Everything is hopelessly confused and 

mixed up and there is constant doing over and overlapping of work. 
We never stopped at six, and no extra pay. I refused to work later 
than 8 o'clock there." But these conditions are not merely local. 
"Frequently," said M. Alfassa, of the trade in Paris, "nightwork 
was the result of bad management; the materials and the trimmings 
are not distributed in good time; the saleswomen are careless about 
turning in the orders. It is to their interest to sell and consequently 
to grant everything the clients ask without concerning themselves 
with the capacity of production in the workroom." * 

Overtime is more likely to occur in a custom trade, such as dress- 
making, than in the manufacturing industries. A large factory, 
dependent on electric power, many lights, and a large force can 
scarcely escape the detection of the inspectors, and the results are 
scarcely worth the risk. Moreover union regulations make over- 
time impossible in many of the large factories. In a custom shop, 
the workroom of which is usually remote from the street, a few em- 
ployees may easily work late at night with little danger of discovery. 
The trade because of its semiprivate nature has, moreover, not 
assumed sufficient importance in the eyes of the inspectors of Massachu- 
setts to merit a great deal of attention. While about three-fourths of 
the estimated number of professional dressmakers in Boston appeared 
at least once, though seldom twice, on the records of the factory 
inspector during a period of one year, the inspectors of the other 
cities studied made no reports concerning dressmakers, and pre- 
sumably no visits were made to the dressmakers of their respective 
cities. The majority are of a private character and employ few if 
an}^ workers, hence do not seem to merit the time and attention 
of the overworked inspectors. 2 Nor is this neglect or perhaps over- 
sight of the custom workers local. M. Alfassa reported one dress- 
making shop in Paris which had not been visited once in eight years. 3 
The isolation of the workers, their distribution among many shops, 
and the character and conditions of their work combine to make 
their protection more difficult than that of the factory worker. 

In spite of their dislike of overtime, the employees are usually wont 
to protect their own interests by shielding their employer rather than 

1 Le Travail de Nuit des Femmes, par Georges Alfassa, en Revue de Paris, Sept. 15, 1904, p. 384. 

2 The law provides for "the inspection and licensing of buildings or parts of buildings used for industrial 
purposes, the inspection and licensing of the workers therein and of all other industrial employees within 
the Commonwealth." But in prescribing the duties of inspectors with relation to "lighting, ventilation, 
and cleanliness,'' and "toilet facilities,'' only "a factory in which five or more persons and a workshop 
in which five or more women or young persons are employed" are specified. Laws Relating to Labor, 
1913, compiled by the Massachusetts State Board of Labor and Industries, pp. 5, 14, and 22. 

3 It is interesting to see that M. Alfassa found all the causes and conditions resulting in overtime in Paris 
which were found in Boston. Le Travail de Xuit des Femmes, par Georges Alfassa, en Revue de Paris, 
Sept. 15, 1904, pp. 367-389. 



116 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

by assisting inspectors in the enforcement of the law. "Last year," 
said the mother of a young girl of 17, "Anna used to work three or 
four evenings a week until 7 or 8 o'clock (5.30 was the regular closing 
time). Sometimes the employer shortened the lunch hour, if in a 
hurry. When the inspector came, the girls said they never worked 
overtime." 

Investigators and inspectors in London and Paris report a similar 
difficulty. "When found working by a factory inspector," said Miss 
Collet, in London, "they falsely declared that it was the first night 
they had worked overtime that week." 1 The Parisian inspectors 
complain at length of the many ruses by which they are deluded and 
circumvented. 3 This difficulty is largely the result of the workers' 
lack of organization, each girl fearing to take a stand which will 
involve her in difficulties with her employer. 

Overtime in dressmaking is, however, much disliked by the workers 
for two reasons. It can seldom be foreseen, so the workers can not 
make their plans accordingly, and many firms do not pay for the 
additional time and work. 3 "I never could make engagements," 
said one much discouraged girl; "I never had Saturday nights. 
Miss M. used to say 'you know I can work you till 20 minutes of 7,' 
but we often had to work until 9. We were told if we did not stay, 
we need not come back next day." "About six weeks in the fall sea- 
son," said another, "the girls have to work overtime. There is no 
definite arrangement. It is just according to rush orders or the 
amount of work which has to be got out in a specified time. I have 
had to work many times until 8 o'clock, and once until half past 10. 
I am sure I worked full 58 hours and I believe more, though I never 
kept count." "We worked six and sometimes more hours overtime 
a week almost regularly in Miss C — — — 's shop," said another. " We 
work two hours overtime regularly through the busy season," said 
another. "We worked until 7 o'clock every night for three weeks." 
Another girl must work evenings and Sundays if necessary. "If you 
could only abolish overtime," said a Boston girl, "dressmaking 
would be all right; but to work from 8 in the morning until 9 or 11 
at night, and no extra pay, I would not do it any longer." 

The law of Massachusetts prohibits night work, from 10 p. m. to 
6 a. m., 4 for women in manufacturing establishments. A girl of 21 
worked until half past 10 in the heart of the city and had to go to her 

i Great Britain, Royal Commission of Labor. Conditions of Work in London, by Clara E. Collet, p. 13. 

2 Le Travail de Nuit des Femmes, par Georges Alfassa, en Revue de Paris, Sept. 15, 1904, p. 3S2. 

3 "At seven or half past seven," said Albert de Mun, when testifying before the Chamber of Deputies in 
France, "at the moment when the workers are about to leave, they are informed that thero will be a 
'veillee,'they had not been informed beforehand; very often they already have their hats on their heads." 
L'Industrie de la Couture et de la Confection a Faris, par Leon de Seilhac, p. 44. 

* Laws of Massachusetts, R. L. vol. 106, sec. 27 (district police). Bulletin of Lnited States Bureau of 
Labor Statistics No. 148, p. 972. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 117 

home after that hour. A girl of 17 "had worked until 11 o'clock 
when dresses just had to go out that night." ' ' We worked many nights 
until 11 o'clock through most of the busy season/' said another. 

In spite of the many reports of overtime by the workers, the exact 
truth as to the actual amount is most difficult to secure from this 
source. Whore the workers are paid at a specific rate for overtime, 
however, this can be accurately determined from the pay roll. Of 
the rest, nothing definite can be known. 

On the pay roll of one of the large fashionable shops, 39 of the 
43 weeks of the season 1909-10, and again in 1910-11, showed 
overtime. In 1909, there was a total of 1,277.6 hours overtime, 
which equals 141.9 clays of 9 hours each, or 23.6 weeks of 54 hours 
each for a working force with a maximum of 65 workers. Dur- 
ing the year 1910, $409.73 was paid for a total of 1,671.3 hours 
overtime, making 185.7 days of 9 hours or 31 weeks of 54 hours. 
In other words, there was enough extra work to have occupied 
one person 23.6 weeks in 1909, and 31 weeks in 1910. Now this 
sounds as if the remedy were simple enough. Employ another per- 
son. But it is not so simple. All this extra work represented by the 
overtime was not the work of one person, nor could it be, since no 
one person in the trade produces all parts of a garment. One night a 
tailor and his assistants must finish a coat. Another night, perhaps, 
a dozen women must stay to finish up a dainty trousseau of delicate 
chiffon and laces. Because of the extreme subdivision of labor, a 
particular worker must, sometimes, stay and work overtime night 
after night because her particular services are needed. Again, the 
dependence of one worker on another may cause overtime. For 
instance, the power-machine operator may be delayed because the 
handworkers have not basted the materials together before the clos- 
ing hour; the waist girl may be delayed because the sleeve girls have 
not completed their section; the trimmer or the tailor must put on 
the last finishing touches before the garment goes out of the shop. 
For this reason the instances of overtime may greatly exceed the 
number of persons working. Thus, in the second week of November, 
1909, 37 persons in one shop worked overtime during the week, but 
some worked several nights, making 107 instances of overtime. The 
following table shows the number of hours overtime worked by each 
of these employees during the week. 



118 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Table 39.— AMOUNT OF OVERTIME IN A SHOP IN THE WEEK OF MAXIMUM OVERTIME 

ENDING NOVEMBER 6,1909. 

[Based on pay roll.] 





Case No. 


Hours of 


overtime 


worked by employees on— 


Total 
hours 
over- 
time 
worked. 


Amount 

paid lor 
over- 
time. 




Mon- 
day. 


Tues- 
day. 


Wednes- 
day. 


Thurs- 
day. 


Friday. 


Satur- ' Sun- 
day. ; day. 


1 . 










3 




9* 
4 
29 
3i 
2" 
V. 
24 
5 
4 J 

8Jr 

2" 

21 J 

3 

24 

29 

V. 

1 

V. 
2" 

73. 

1* 

9 

5 

4§ 

44 

5| 

6J 

7| 

4i 

5" 

2& 

3* 

*i 

84 
2 J 


$0.12 


2i 




1 


2i 


1 


2'. 
1 


1 

14 


1 


3.50 


3.. 




1. 11 


4 








2.33 


5 








i 
1" 
1 

1> 


3 


1 


.46 


6 





1 




.33 


7. 






i 




1 


.28 


8 








j. 




.37 


9 




2'. 






10 1 


1 

34 






2j 
1 

1 

41 
1" 
11 


1 


1 
1 




1.25 


11 i 


1 
1 

4 


1 


3.46 


12 


.24 


13i 


1 


1 


1 


1 


9 


8.33 


14.... 


.50 


15 




1 




.56 


16 














17... 




ii 


r 








.28 


18 




1 A 








.05 


19.. ... 


U 


l 

L 


2 


1 








1.17 


20 




1 




.37 


21 


I 




3| 
1 
2 \ 

X 

n 

3" 

l 
l 


34 


1.58 


22 








.13 


23 


1 


2J 

Il- 
ls 




3 

1 




1.67 


24 


14 




1.39 


25 




2 ..i;::::::: 


1.00 


26 




i 


1.25 


27 




H 

X. 

•1 
li 
Ik 

li 
U 
l| 


3 
24 

3' 

1 

2 




.90 


28... 


| 


i 
l 4 
li 

i 

2 

i 


1 


1.50 


29 




1.73 


30 


.83 


31 




1" 




32 




1 


.17 


33 






11 

3" 




.50 


34 






ii 

IV 

l" 

21 


» ! 


.96 


35 






H 
l 


.52 


36 i 


2i 


1 


1 


2 


3.30 


37 1 . - - - - . 


.30 




Total amount 

Number of instances 
of overtime 










1 






13! 
10 


30£ 

20 


14 
14 


50 
30 


33J 
19 


13| 9 

13 1 


1821 
107 


t 43. 81 











1 Men; hence not limited by legislation. 



- Not specified by days. 



No. 13, a man tailor, worked every night and Sunday, besides; 
four people worked every night; 19 workers stayed three or more 
nights for extra work. The men were not subject to the law limiting 
the week to 58 hours, but cases of illegal overtime appear for the 
women. Since the regular working week in the shop is 54 hours, any 
woman working more than four hours overtime exceeds the legal 
limit, which is the case of 15 women as shown in Table 39. In no case 
did the women work later than 10 o'clock (closing hour of the shop 
was 6 o'clock) , though one young woman, No. 26, must have worked un- 
til 10, after which she had to reach her home in a remote suburb. The 
number working overtime during that week ranged from 10 on Mon- 
day to 30 on Thursday, only two of whom worked less than one hour. 
Any woman working more than one hour overtime in a day again 
exceeds the legal limit, which is a 10-hour day. On Thursday of this 
week 11 women exceeded the 10-hour day; during the whole week 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



119 



there were 40 instances of women exceeding the 10-hour working day. 
November was the month of maximum overtime both in 1909 and 
1910, and the second week showed the greatest rush in both years. 
In the second week of November, 1909, 37 people, representing 107 
instances, worked 1S'2\ hours, enough for three people working a 58- 
hour week and one person working one day. In the same week of 
1910, 44 people, representing 168 instances of overtime, worked 186J 
hours, again enough for three people working a 58-hour week and one 
person working a day and a half. December also is a rush month 
with a good deal of overtime, though it rapidly decreases during the 
month. 

The following table shows the variation of overtime by months in a 
large shop : 

Table 40.— OVERTIME IN A LARGE SHOP FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS, 1909-10 

AND 1910-11. 
[Based on pay rolls.] 



Month and week. 



Overtime in 1909-10. 



Number of per- 
sons. 



Em- 
ployed. 



Work- 
ing 
over- 
time. 



Num- 
ber of 



Num- 
ber of 
hours. 



Amount 
paid. 



Overtime in 1910-11. 



Number of per- 
sons. 



Em- 
ployed. 



Work- 
ing 
over- 
time. 



Num- 
ber of 



Num- 
ber of 
hours. 



Amount 
paid. 



October: 

1st week. 

2d week. . 

3d week.. 

4th week. 

5th week. 
November: 

1st week . 

2d week.. 

3d week. . 

4th week. 
December: 

1st week.. 

2d week . 

3d week. . 

4th week. 

5th week. 
January: 

1st week . 

2d week.. 

3d week.. 

4th week. 

5th week. 
February: 

1st week . 

2d week.. 

3d week.. 

4th week. 
March: 

1st week. 

2d week. . 

3d week. . 

4th week. 
April: 

1st week. 

2d week. . 

3d week. . 

4th week. 

5th week. 
May: 

1st week . 

2d week. . 

3d week. . 

4th week. 



60 



3 
12 

8 
56 

107 
107 
98 
37 

54 
40 
36 
17 



m 

2" 
13i 
14fj 

S5A; 

122.1 
182J 
141.1 
5SJ 

89i 
49.i 
33 J 
28f 



$3.00 
.65 

2. SL> 

3.26 

23.47 

26.83 
45.64 
37.96 
12.21 

22.95 

15.39 

21. 59 

8.49 



1.31 



1.59 
11. 43 



13 
16 
19 

50 

94 

168 
112 
111 

122 
81 

98 
42 
12 

18 
12 
27 
19 



3i 
10J 
22J 
13£ 

58 

111J 

186i 
155i 
127| 

146| 

104 

118J 
42i 
133 

17 
9i 
23 
15 



84. 32 
2.13 
5.33 
2.66 

17.56 

26. 70 
43.53 
37.27 
29.69 

37.68 
28.95 
30.22 
9.12 
3.18 

2.85 
1.57 
5.30 
3.09 



3.40 

.39 

2.02 



41 

45', 

n 

131 

47J- 

40" 
23 1 
32" 



211 
18 



.83 
11. 23 

.38 

4.74 
14.16 
11.64 
6.94 
9.36 

1.47 
1.34 

4.08 
4.% 



1.04 



.10 
.09 



19J 

26 

22 

43i 

54i 

551 
46i 
29i 
30i 



1.00 
2.97 

5. 17 

7.80 
5.69 
13. 52 

12.78 

11.63 
9.38 
6.52 
6.70 



120 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Table 40 OVERTIME IN A LARGE SHOP FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS, 1909-10 

AND 1910-11—Coneluded. 





Overtime in 1909-10. 


Overtime in 1910-11. 


Month and week. 


Number of per- 
sons. 


Num- 
ber of 

in- 
stances. 


Num- 
ber of 
hours. 


Amount 
paid. 


Number of per- 
sons. 


Num- 
ber of 

in- 
stances. 


Num- 
ber of 
hours. 






Em- 
ployed. 


Work- 
ing 
over- 
time. 


Em- 
ployed. 


Work- 
ing 
over- 
time. 


Amount 
paid. 


June: 

1st week 

2d week 

3d week 

4th week 

July: 

1st week 


51 

48 
48 
46 

44 
41 
43 

38 


20 
12 
10 
9 

3 
4 
5 
10 


43 
18 
12 
12 

4 
4 
7 
13 


51^ 
16 
6J 

8} 

2 
3 

101 


$10. 23 
3.18 
1.35 
1.85 

.46 

.80 

.88 

2.08 


57 
57 
56 
52 

46 
44 
41 
34 


12 
17 
IS 
9 

16 


16 
39 
31 
21 

30 


Hi 

30J 

18 

14 

28| 


$3. 10 
6.18 
4.48 
4.06 

6. 04 


3d week 

4th week 


9 
13 


21 
19 


25 1 4.88 
24 J 5.45 








1,000 


1,277/, 


342. 36 






1,631 


l,C7il 1 409.73 

















The relation between overtime and the seasons is apparent. 1 The 
maximum overtime comes in November and May, the heights of the 
two seasons in this particular shop in 1910. The minimum overtime 
in January, February, and first part of March corresponds with the 
depths of the trade depression. The fall season in this shop is, how- 
ever, characterized by a great deal more overtime than the spring. 
This seems to be explained by the character of the clientele. The 
patrons of the shop are wealthy and fashionable people, who do not 
return to the city until October. The orders precipitate a deluge of 
work demanding immediate execution, for everyone has "nothing to 
wear." Through November, therefore, the work can be completed 
only by overtime for a large part of the force. The spring orders, 
however, come in much more gradually and are distributed over a 
greater length of time, so while there is still a great deal of overtime, 
the management is better able to control it. 

The labor problem which the employer faces also becomes apparent. 
The cataclysmic rush of work in the fall necessitates one of two things, 
overtime or more workers. But scarcity of skilled labor is one of 
the most serious difficulties of the trade. Moreover, it is not one 
or two workers who are needed, but different workers in the various 
departments for a short time. Skilled workers can seldom be picked 
up for a short rush season, as they have comparatively steady work, 
and few employers can stand the expense of holding through the 
year a large number of skilled workers who are needed but a few 
months. The alternative appears to be overtime as long as the orders 
of the customers come within a short rush period. 

1 See ( 'hart C 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 121 

Chart C— OVERTIME IN A LARGE SHOP DURING THE YEARS 1009-10 AND 1910-11. 

[Based on Table 40.] 



Number 
of hours 
overtime 

175 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


March 


April 


May 


June 


July 


1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 

« 
h 


1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 


1 1 1 


MM 




1 ! 1 


1 1 1 


150 




ft 


















125 






1 

/ i 
i i 
; 1 

1 
















100 






I 
1 
i a 

I /I 
1 / i 
i ' 1 
i/ | 
















75 


| 


Ij 








1909 
-1910 








50 




1 












..., 






25 






\ 


V 

V / 






/ \ < 

/ \ ' 

/A V 

/' * \ 1 

y \ A / 


\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 
\ 
\ 


/ I* 


t 





'\ \i 












// v V 

// 

// 

il 




h/k 





Few pay rolls, however, give such complete record of overtime 
as was found in this shop, and therefore to what extent such overtime 
is characteristic of the large fashionable shops in general it is im- 
possible to say. The pay roll of another shop, equally large and ca- 
tering to the same type of people, showed very little pay for over- 
time and that only occasionally. The natural presumption would 
be that there was little overtime there. Reports from the workers, 
however, show this is not true. The majority said overtime was 
compensated by equal time off, though one said she had the choice of 
pay or time off. The overtime, under this system of compensa- 
tion, does not appear on the pay roll, nor can it be accurately ascer- 
tained from any source. 

Another high-class shop, though employing about half as large a 
force (35), showed much less overtime. Some appeared on the pay 
roll during 15 of the 39 weeks working season. The second week in 
November, eight workers received 50 cents extra and five workers 
$1 each for overtime, but the number of hours worked was not 
specified. Again, the first week in December an equal number 



122 BULLETIN OF THE'BUKEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

received varying amounts, none exceeding 50 cents. The last week 
in April and first week in June four people received overtime pay, 
but during the remainder of the season only one or two, and in one 
instance three, workers were paid for overtime. The relation of over- 
time to the heights of the seasons is here again apparent. But this 
is not an accurate account of the overtime in this shop, as one worker 
reported overtime with no compensation, an instance again of over- 
time that does not appear on the pay roll. 

More than one-half the 200 workers visited reported overtime during 
the year which may or may not havebeen illegal ; one-third (34) of those 
reporting received no pay for additional time and work. Overtime 
was reported for 59 shops, though in only 6 of these was it habitual or 
frequent. More than one-third (39 per cent) of the 59 shops did 
not pay for overtime. One worker said she received " nothing for 
once or twice." One was paid "about one-half the time." Another 
said her employer " always promised to pay them for overtime, but she 
never did." Four shops, according to the reports of the workers, 
made it up to them by allowing time later, and one shop gave the 
choice between pay and time off. 1 "I sometimes work until 7 o'clock 
several times a week during rush season," said one girl. "Once I 
worked until 9 o'clock. But they make it up to the girls by giving 
them an afternoon off. They are perfectly fair about it. We are 
never asked to exceed the legal weekly limit and are glad to work 
overtime some evenings to get the afternoon off." 2 

The large establishments, on the whole, may be said to pay for or 
at least compensate overtime. A fashionable shop of 100 workers, 
however, notorious for its continuous and extended overtime, did 
not pay for it, while some of the small shops did, so it is difficult to 
generalize. The payment for overtime ultimately depends on the 
businesslike methods of the employer and on the employees them- 
selves. Some employees refuse to stay night after night without pay. 
Others are afraid to refuse. 3 

Overtime without pay would seem to be a profitable system. To 
what extent this opportunity is abused by the employer it would be 
difficult to say. "The girls worked at Miss B — — — 's shop during 
the three months of the spring season every night until 12 o'clock," 
said one worker. "Miss B would declare the gown had to be 

* Miss Collet discovered a similar diversity with regard to payment for overtime in London. Great 
Britain, Royal Commission of Labor. Conditions of Work in London (1S93), by Clara E. Collet, p. 13. 

2 Miss Irwin reported a similar custom among some dressmakers in Scotland. Great Britain, Royal 
Commission of Labor. Conditions of Work in Scotland, by Margaret Irwin, p. 292. 

3 Miss Collet, in London, and Miss Orme and Miss Abraham, in Ireland, found a similar situation. Great 
Britain, Royal Commission. Conditions of Work in London, p. 13; Conditions of Work in Ireland, p. 322. 

M. du Maroussem reported one employer in Paris who paid double for overtime. Nothing is said about 
the others, who probably do not pay for overtime. France, Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie, Vol, 
II, Le Vehement a Paris, p. 439. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOB WOMEX IN MASSACHUSETTS. 123 

done within a certain time and then a week after we would see it 
hanging in the closet. 1 She announced once that 'No girl need 
expect to stay who wouldn't work overtime.' She usually wouldn't 
ask a girl outright to stay at night, but would say certain dresses had 
to be done, and if we didn't stay we knew we would lose our places." 

"Mme. Z came in one evening/' said another girl, "and an- 
nounced that all should work until 6 o'clock (half past 5 being the 
regular closing time), although there was no particular need for it. 
The more I thought of it the more angry I got. Off of 18 women thus 
she would get in just a whole day's work for no pay. When half-past 

5 came I left and went home. Mme. Z said nothing to me the 

next morning." An older woman of 45, however, who only managed 
to get four months' work in the whole year, could be much less inde- 
pendent. "We often stayed at S 's three or four nights a week 

until 7 or 8. I did not care to be 'stiff' about those things for fear of 
being discharged." 2 

A few of the Boston workers said that supper was provided when 
they worked late. "Many nights through most of the busy season we 

worked until 1 1 o'clock. Miss H gave us a sandwich for lunch, 

but what was that?" said one girl. "Sometimes we work overtime 

at C 's," said a more contented worker, "but we are paid the 

regular rate and a nice supper is always brought in — sandwiches, hot 
coffee, cake, and fruit. C 's is a grand place to work." 

The rate of pay for overtime varied with the different shops. The 
majority who were paid received the regular rate or approximately 
that amount. 3 A large alteration department had a regular overtime 
rate of 25 cents an hour. The $12 worker thus received about her 
regular rate for overtime work, while the $9 worker received almost 
half again her regular rate. 

An ingenious scheme of adjustment of seasonal fluctuation and 
hours was discovered in a private shop, but with the burden still on 
the worker. The regular working day was from 8 a. m. to 5.30 p. m., 
with one-half hour for lunch. The employees worked one-half hour 
over the regular day two or three times a week throughout the busy 
season. No pay was given for the extra time and work. In dull mid- 
winter from Thanksgiving until the opening of the spring season the 
hours were changed from 8 a. m. to 4 p. m. with one-half hour for 
lunch, and workers received but five days' pay. In the busy season 
they worked more than they were paid for. In the dull season five 
days' work was spread over six days and they were paid for just five 

i See similar report by M. Alfassa. Le Travail de Xuit des Femmes, par Georj;<M Alfassn, en Revue 
de Paris, Sept. 15, 1904, pp. 384, 385. 

2 Great Britain, Royal Commission. Conditions of Work in London, by C3ara E. Collet, p. 13. 

s A girl receiving S7.50 a week, for instance, received 11 cents an bora (48 cents would have been 
regular pay). 



124 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

days' work. To what extent the work done during overtime in the 
busy season would have occupied the dull season is difficult to 
determine. The demands of customers are the ultimate controlling 
force. 

Conditions at the time of the investigation made overtime profitable 
to the employer. She could get a great deal of additional work at no 
additional cost and without violating the 58-hour law. "I have 
noticed," said a girl of 22, " that the dressmakers who rushed the girls 
and kept them overtime had patrons coming back oftener for altera- 
tions." The quality of work done and temper of the workroom force 
might thus counterbalance the amount of work completed. "More- 
over, the work done during the day is good," says M. Alfassa, " while 
that done in the evening is extremely defective." 

In isolated cases of an eight-hour day the employer has maintained 
that the same results can be secured in an eight as in a nine hour 
working day. ' ' Miss Olivia Flynt, Chauncy Street, Boston (reported) 
Hours of Labor per day (8)" in 1871. "We are assured by the 
employer and employed that their profits have been quite as large 
since the adoption of the eight hours for a day's work some eighteen 
months since, as before, when working nine and one-half hours per 
da} 7 ." * Two proprietors of shops in Boston now have an eight-hour 
day, one of whom says she can turn out as much work in eight hours 
as in nine hours throughout the season. 

Legal prohibition of nightwork and regulation of shop hours is 
undoubtedly beneficial in controlling overtime, though a rigid enforce- 
ment of the legal limit of hours will probably result in only par- 
tially checking the tendency of customers to give late orders and 
to require their completion within an unreasonable time. It may 
result to a certain extent in driving the work out of the shop to the 
home. Some half dozen workers representing three or four shops 
reported taking work home in the evening, for which the majority 

received no additional pay. "I have taken a coat home from II ■ 

and embroidered on it at night with no extra pa} T ," said one girl. 
Another took material home Saturday and worked on it a' large part 
of Sunday. An employee in one of the large shops, however, said, 
"In extreme rush we take embroidery home at night. We get extra 
pay and I am glad to be able to earn the extra money." The em- 
ployer thus escapes the danger of being discovered by the inspector, 
but violates the law which forbids work being sent to the home with- 
out a license. 2 The wearer is exposed to the possibilities of clothing 
made under unsanitary conditions and the worker has seriously over- 

1 Second Annual Report of Massachusetts Bureau of Lahor (1S71), p. 216. 

2 Laws of Massachusetts, R. L., vol. 103, sec. 56 (State Board of Health). Bulletin of the United 
States Bureau of Labor Statistics No. 148, pp. 9S2 and 9S3. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 125 

drawn on her reserve force. Both workers and inspectors reported a 
similar situation in England. 1 

The evil effects of long hours and overtime for women have been 
so clearly and voluminously portrayed in the United States and 
Europe that it seems unnecessary to deal with them except in a 
cursory way. 2 The physical and nervous strain of overtime added to 
the regular working day is self-evident. The work begins at the 
regular hour the following day regardless of the hour at which the 
worker left the shop the preceding night. 

The moral aspect of the problem has been emphasized by French 
writers. The young girls and women are exposed to many unpleasant 
experiences returning to their homes late at night. 3 Young girls 
become accustomed to being out at night, and their parents have no 
way of knowing when it .is necessary. "Does Anna have to stay at 
night very often?" the investigator asked a mother. "I can't tell," 
said the mother. "Sometimes she comes home late and says she 
was kept in at the shop. But you can't always believe what young 
girls say." 

A more equal distribution of work throughout the year, or work for 
a larger number of women must result if the legal regulation of 
the working day be enforced. English trade-union workers and 
inspectors believe that such a result has been secured in England. 1 
Legislation and adequate inspection can contribute to the betterment 
of working conditions. The 54-hour week without exceptions should 
greatly simplify the situation in the dressmaking trade, as under it the 
legal and the actual working day of the majority of shops are synony- 
mous. Enforcement of this legislation is the problem of the times, 
but it can be greatly facilitated by the customers and by employees. 

'The movement for abolishing nightwork for women received a 
powerful impetus in the signature by 14 European States of the 
international convention respecting the prohibition of nightwork for 
women in industrial employment. The convention guarantees to 
women in industrial occupations in the signatory States a night rest 
of 11 consecutive hours, part of which must cover the period from 10 
p. m. to 5 a. m. This convention came into force January 14, 1912, in 
the 12 States which had ratified it by January 14, 1910. These coun- 

1 Great Britain Factory and Workshops Acts Commission. Report of the Commissioners appointed 
to inquire into the working of the Factory and Workshops Acts, Vol. I, p. 56. London, 1876. 

2 Decision of the United States Supreme Court in Curt Muller v. State of Oregon, and Brief for the 
State of Oregon, 1907; also W. C. Ritchie & Co. v. Wayman and Davies, in the Supreme Court of Illinois, 
December, 1909, by Louis D. Brandeis, assisted by Josephine Goldmark. Fatigue and Efficiency, by 
Josephine Goldmark, New York, 1912. Le Travail de Nuit des Femmes, par Georges Alfassa, en Revue 
de Paris, Sept. 15, 1904. Le Travail de Nuit des Femmes dans L'Industrie Francaise, par Marthe 
Jay, p. 12. Die gewerbliche Nachtarbeit der Frauen, Stephen Bauer, Jena, 1903, p. 2. 

3 See similar statements in Le Travail de Nuit des Femmes dans L'Industrie Francaise, par Marthe 
Jay, p. 12. Le Travail de Nuit des Femmes, par Georges Alfassa, en Revue de Paris, Sept. 15, 1904, 
pp. 367-389. 



126 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAL T OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

tries are Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, France, the United 
Kingdom, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, 
and Sweden. 1 The United States as a unit has no such legisla- 
tion. This important matter is left to the individual States and the 
resultant variation is always a weapon of the employers against 
reduction of the working hours in a particular State on the ground that 
it unfairly handicaps them in the competition of trade. In 1916 
but nine of the States prohibited night work by women. 2 

i Bulletin of International Labor Office (1906), p. xxxiii. Spain and Denmark were the two remain- 
ing countries. 

2 Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and 
South Carolina. 



CHAPTER VI. 
WAGES AND EARNINGS IN BOSTON. 

Custom dressmaking with its emphasis on fine handwork is still, at 
the opening of the twentieth century, primarily woman's work. The 
last official statistics given for this branch of the trade were those 
collected in 1900. In that year the average number of men, women, 
and children employed in custom and factory dressmaking, and the 
wages received by each group, were as follows: 

Table 41 NUMBER AND WAGES OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN IN CUSTOM 

DRESSMAKING AND IN MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN THE UNITED STATES.' 





Custom shops. 


. Manufacturing shops. 


Workers. 


Average 
number 

em- 
ployed . 


Per cent 
of average 
number 
of wage- 
earners. 


Total 
wages 
paid. 


Per cent 

of total 

wages 

paid. 


Average 
number 

em- 
ployed. 


Per cent 
of average 
number 
of wage- 
earners. 


Total 
wa'.-es 
paid. 


Per cent 
of total 
wares 
paid. 




4,379 

40, 835 

381 


9.6 

89.6 

.8 


$2,943,175 

11,363,6S3 

45, 595 


20.6 26,109 

79.1 1 56,866 

.3 764 


31.2 

67.9 

.9 


515,790,572 

16,675,390 

120, 139 


48.5 




51.2 


Children 


.3 






Total 


45, 595 


100.0 1 14,352,453 


100.0 


83, 739 


100.0 


32, 586, 101 


100.0 



i United States Census, 1900. Manufactures, I't. Ill, p. 302. 

It will be seen that in custom dressmaking the women represented 
almost 90 per cent. In the factory branch of the clothing trade, in- 
volving heavier machine w T ork, more emphasis on speed, and a greater 
variety of materials and product, men constituted 31.2 per cent of the 
force. 

Turning to the matter of wages, it appears that in custom dress- 
making, although men formed less than 10 per cent of the working 
force, they drew 20 per cent of the total wages paid. In the manu- 
facturing branch the men also drew more than their proportionate 
share of the total wages, but relatively their excess is less than in 
custom dressmaking. This is due to the difference in the skill re- 
quired of men in the two branches of the trade. However, in both 
branches the men drew' a much larger proportion and the women and 
children a much smaller proportion of the total wages paid than they 
represented in the working force. 

The investigation on which this chapter is based has been confined 
to those shops making high-class dresses, custom and wholesale, a 

127 



128 



BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



branch of the trade which is still practically monopolized by women. 
While custom dressmaking in Massachusetts has reached a fair degree 
of development, the manufacturing branch, because of concentration 
in New York, is unusual and sporadic in this State, and has necessarily 
been treated more from a comparative standpoint than as a basis of 
study in itself. The pay-roll records of 735 workers in 14 custom 
dressmaking shops l and of 522 workers in the only two high-class 
dressmaking factories in Boston making a product selling at whole- 
sale for $18 or more, and the personal testimony of 200 workers visited 
in their homes form the basis for conclusions on the wage situation 
in the dressmaking trade of Boston. 

The sex and age of the workers studied in Boston are shown in the 
following table: 



Table 42— NUMBER OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN UNDER 16 EMPLOYED IX 14 
CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 2 MANUFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON DURING 
ONE YEAR. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





Custom shops. 


Manufacturing shops. 


Workers. 


A 


B 


C 


D 


E 


F 


G 


H 


I 


J 


K 


L 


M 


N 


Total 
num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


X 


Y 


Total 
num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 




30 

97 


6 
83 

10 






1 
38 


2 

27 


















39 

545 

16 


6.5 
90.8 


7 
69 


15 
431 


22 
500 


4.2 




59 


44 
1 


55 
1 


34 
1 


35 
2 


2.". 


10 
1 


11 


17 


10 


95.8 


Children 


?,7 




























Total 


127 


99 


59 


45 


39 29 


56 


35 


37 


25 


11 


11 


17 


10 


600 


100.0 


76 


446 


522 


100.0 











Comparing these figures with those from the census just given, it 
appears that the proportion of women in the custom trade in Boston 
does not differ very greatly from that in the whole Union. In factory 
dressmaking, however, Boston shows a much larger proportion of 
women than are found in the trade as a whole. 

This is largely due to the fact that "women's clothing trade, factory 
product," as described by the census, includes much of the. heavy 
wear largely made by men, while the "factory dressmaking" studied 
in Boston is confined to the making of a product similar to that of 
the custom shop — light-weight dresses of silk and chiffon, on which 
women are principally employed, men appearing only as designers, 
foremen, cutters, pressers, and shippers. Children under 16 formed 
2.7 per cent of the 600 custom workers employed in 14 custom shops 
in Boston during the year 1910-11, while none were found among 
522 factory workers. Public sentiment, the activity of the Con- 

i The records of 600 workers appeared on the pay rolls of the 14 custom shops during a one-year period, 
September, 1910, to September, 1911. As an additional four months' record from September to December, 
1911, was taken from several shops to gain information concerning the effect of the summer vacation on 
the stability of the force, the wages of the additional 135 new workers who appeared during this period 
have been used in some tables to make as large and representative a group as possible on which to base 
conclusions. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



129 



sinners' League, and the small value of girls under 16 in a dress- 
making factory militate against their employment. They are used 
as errand, floor, and stock girls, but Boston employers show an in- 
creasing unwillingness to employ them even on these tasks, saying 
they are too young and irresponsible to compensate for the trouble 
they make. More than two-thirds of the children under 16 in the 
custom trade earned less than $5 a week. 

Turning to a consideration of weekly wages, the following table 
shows the number and per cent of men, women, and children in 
different wage groups: 

Table 4.3.— CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN UNDER 16 
IN 14 CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND 2 MANUFACTURING SHOPS, IN BOSTON. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





Custom shops. 


Manufacturing shops. 1 


Classified weekly 
wages. 


Men. 


Women. 


Children. 


Total. 


Men. 


Women. 


Total.' 




Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent . 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent . 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent . 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 








62 

372 

181 

30 

4 

5 

3 


9.3 
55.7 
27.1 
4.5 
.6 
.8 
.4 


17 
8 


68.0 
32.0 


79 
383 

1S7 

36 

21 

7 

5 

1 


10.8 

52.2 

25.4 

5.0 

3.3 

1.0 

. 7 

.1 






70 

296 

95 

8 


14.9 
62.8 
20.2 


70 

302 

99 


14.1 


$5 and under $10 


3 7.1 
6: 14.3 
6 14.3 
20l 47.6 
2 4.8 
21 4.8 
1 2.4 


6 
4 
7 
1 


27.3 

18.2 

31.8 

4.6 


61.1 
20.1 


$15 and under $20 






1.7 15 


3.0 


$20 and under $25 






1 -2 


2 


.5 




















1 


4.5 


1 


.2 


2 


.5 


$35 and under $40 


















2 


9.1 






2 


.5 


$45 and under $50 


1 2.3 










1 
1 
11 


.1 
.1 
1.3 








$50 and under $60 


1 
10 


.1 
1.5 






1 


4.5 






1 


.2 




i 2.4 






























Total 


42 100. fifiS 


100. 


25 
3.4 


100.0 


*735 
100.0 


100.0 


22 


100.0 


4711100. ol 493 


100.0 




5. 7 - - - 


90.9 



















i No children under 16 employed. 
2 29 pieceworkers excluded. 

* Some names appear on the pay roll for a day or two with no wage at all, or several weeks with varying 
small sums. These are drifters, but worth noting. 

* Including 135 miscellaneous workers. See note, p. 128. 

The difference in the wages of men and women appears very strik- 
ingly here. While almost two-thirds of the women employed in cus- 
tom dressmaking earned less than $10 a week, practically the same 
proportion of the men earned $20 or more. In factory dressmaking 
three-fourths of the women earned less and nearly three-fourths of 
the men earned more than $10 a week. 

The table also shows the difference in the opportunities offered by 
the two branches for earning good wages. In custom dressmaking 
35 per cent of the women employed earned $10 or over, against 
22.3 per cent in factory dressmaking. Only two women in the 
latter branch earned as much as or more than $20 a week, while in 
custom dressmaking nine earned from $20 to $30, three from $30 to 
and one between $50 and $60. Because of the demand for 



35°— Bull. 193—16- 



130 



BULLETIN OF THE BL/REAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



artistic lines, originality, and individuality, custom dressmaking is 
unique in the clothing trades for the opportunity open to the women 
who can meet the required standard. In spite of the opportunity, 
few are able to measure up to it, and the discouraging fact remains 
that almost one-half the custom workers and two-thirds of the fac- 
tory workers earn less than $9, which has been estimated as the 
minimum living wage in Boston. 1 

The week wage prevails in the high-class dressmaking trade, both 
custom and manufacturing, in Boston. In the former, the character 
of the trade makes the week wage preferable for two reasons: First, 
since custom dressmaking stands for individuality and originality, 
every gown must be different, which makes the establishment of a 
piece rate difficult, and, second, the week rate is usually recognized 
as essential to fine, high-class work, for pieceworkers are likely to be 
more interested in the amount than the quality of output. In no 
purely custom shop in Boston was the piece-wage system in use, and 
in the two wholesale dressmaking shops only 29 of the 522 workers 
were on piece wage. In the larger factory it was customary to put 
new workers on a piece rate for a few weeks, to enable the forewoman 
to set their weekly rates. Since the pieceworkers are few and not 
representative, they will be excluded from the general discussion of 
wages in Boston. The following table shows their average weekly 
wages. It will be seen that 24 of the 29 averaged less than $5 a week 
and that not one earned $9 a week. 



Table 44. 



-CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES OF 29 WOMEN OX PIECEWORK IN 2 MAN- 
UFACTURING SHOPS IN BOSTON. 7 

[Based on pay rolls] 



Classified weekly wages. 


Number of women earning wage 
specified. 


Shop X. 


Shop Y. 


Total. 


Under $1 ' 


5 
3 
1 
3 
2 


5 
3 
4 

S 
1 


$ 1 and under $2 


$'2 and under $3 


3 

4 
3 
1 


S3 and under 84 












2 

i 




2 


SH and under $9 


1 


Total 


14 


15 


29 





a Average wage based on number of weeks worked. None worked more than eight weeks in shop X and 
none more than 13 weeks in shop Y. 

One large high-class establishment, doing both custom and retail 
manufacturing 2 and employing from 400 to 500 workers, was unique 
in that the piece-wage system was the prevailing method of wage 

iThe Living Wage of Women Workers, by M. Louise Bosworth. [New York, 1911.] pp. 9-11. 
z Gowns made up in advance of orders and sold to the prospective wearers either through the store or 
traveling saleswomen. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN TN MASSACHUSETTS. 131 

payment, only the heads and a few others receiving a week wage. 
The piece-wage system is also invading the alteration departments of 
the large stores. One firm had put all alteration workers on piece 
rates, while two firms were imposing this form of payment on the 
seasonal or extra workers only. Although the week wage has the 
advantage of a definite assured income, the worker may be laid off 
the moment she can be dispensed with. The pieceworker may, on 
the other hand, make something, although less than usual, in dull 
season, if she oomes to the factory each day. 

Although the wages of adult women workers in the dressmaking 
trade may seem discouraging, comparison with other industries 
shows that relatively they are high. The wages in boot and shoe 
manufacturing ranked highest of the large manufacturing industries 
in 1905, with 32.6 per cent earning $9 or more. Wholesale millinery 
ranked second with 26.6 per cent, women's clothing, factory product, 
21.7 per cent, men's clothing 13.1 per cent, printing and publishing 
17.7 per cent, bookbinding 11.7 per cent, and paper boxes 8.7 per cent 
earning $9 or more. 1 

Wages in custom and factory dressmaking secured from local pay 
rolls are, therefore, much better than those reported for the large 
manufacturing industries. Forty-nine per cent of the custom work- 
ers and 36.3 per cent of the factory workers earned $9 or more. Fac- 
tory dressmaking turning out a high-class product shows a higher 
wage standard than the women's clothing trade as a whole, for 67.8 
per cent earned less than $8 in the trade as a whole as compared 
with 47.1 per cent in factory dressmaking in Boston; 78.3 per cent 
earned loss than $9 in the trade as a whole, while 63.7 per cent 
earned less than $9 in the Boston dressmaking factories. Custom 
dressmaking with its fine product requiring skill and artistic sense 
ranks still better, only 33.1 per cent earning less than $8, and 50.6 
per cent less than $9. 

The difference in opportunity to earn a good wage in the two 
branches is also apparent; 35.6 per cent of the custom as compared 
with 22.3 per cent of the factory workers earned $10 or more; 17.9 
per cent of the custom workers as compared with 7 per cent of the 
factory workers earned $12 or more. Six per cent of the custom 
workers earned more than $15, 2.1 per cent received $20 or more, and 
1.4 per cent, $25 or more. 

The wage scale of an individual shop is largely determined by the 
character of its trade and the size of the force. Large and fashion- 
able shops employ more expensive help than is needed in the small 
shops. In shop A, employing during the year 97 women, 2 12.4 per 
cent earned $15 or more; 10.3 percent, $1S or more, and 4.1 percent, 

1 Special Reports of the Census Office. Manufactures, Part IV, 1905, p. 732. 

- According to Table 23, pp. 89 and 90, the maximum number employed in shop A in one week was 62. 



132 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



$25 or more, while in shop C, employing 35, but one woman earned 
$25, and in only one of the remaining 12 shops was $25 paid. 
Combining the large shops A to G, each employing a maximum of 25 
or more workers, and the small shops H to N, each employing less, 
fairly definite wage groups appear. 

Table 45.— CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES OF WOMEN 16 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER 
WORKING IN LARGE AND SMALL CUSTOM DRESSMAKING AND MANUFACTURING 
SHOPS FOR A ONE-YEAR PERIOD. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





Women earning classified wages in 
custom shops. 


Women earning classified wages in 
manufacturing shops. 


( lassified weekly wages. 


Large 
shops. 


Small 
shops. 


Total. 


Large 
shops. 


Small 
shops. 


Total. 




Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 




31 

221 

112 

25 

2 

o 

3 


7.7 

54.9 

27.9 

6.2 

.5 

.5 

.s 


15 
74 
43 

1 

1.3 


10.5 
51.8 
30.0 

1.4 
. 7 

2.1 


46 
295 
155 

~3 
5 
3 
1 

10 


8.5 

54.1 

28. 4 

5.0 

.5 

.9 

.6 

l.'x 


70 
255 

83 
6 
1 


61.3 

20.0 

1.5 

2 


41 
12 

2 


74.6 

21.8 

3.6 


70 

296 

95 

8 

1 


14.9 


$5 and under $10 

$10 and under $15 


62.8 
20.2 


$15 and under $20 


1.7 

.2 


$25 and under $30 


... .. 




$30 and under $35. . . 


1 


2 




1 


.2 


$50 and under $60 


5 | 1.2 


5 


3.5 


| 










| 
















Total 


402 100.0 


143 


100.0 


545 


100.0 


416 


100.0 


55 jlOO.O 


471 


100.0 



i The $25 wage is abnormal in the small shop employing less than 25 workers. These three were tried 
out in one year in one shop where the employer did not personally conduct the business. 

The proportion, more than one-half earning $5 to $10, and one- 
fourth, $10 to $15, is approximately the same in both, but the differ- 
ence appears at the extremes. Those earning $15 and over were 8.3 per 
cent of the total employed in the large shops and but 4.2 per cent in the 
small, while they constitute 7.2 per cent of the force in the combined 
shops, illustrating the influence of the large shops in the returns for 
the trade. As the other extreme the $1 to $5 workers form 10.5 per 
cent in the small shops and 7.7 per cent in the large establishments. 
Most of the low-wage earners are young learners, 18 to 20 years old, 
who can be profitably employed in the small shops where they work 
directly under and with their employer. 

The lower wage scale of the small shop raises the question: To 
what extent does the proportion of learners explain the difference? 
Slightly more than one-fourth of the women 16 years of age and 
over employed in the large shops were earning less than $8, and a 
little more than one-fifth of these were under 1 8 years of age. Almost 
one-third of the women in the small shops earned less than $8 and 
one-fifth of these were under 1 8 years of age. The lower wage scale 
of the small shop large enough to keep a pay roll, therefore, is ex- 
plained by the class of work and type of product rather than by the 
immaturity of the workers. The decline of the small shop is there- 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 133 

fore a dubious misfortune, for the large shop, in spite of less indi- 
vidualism and greater subdivision of labor, does not necessarily, as 
the census has pointed out, mean a lower wage scale. 1 

Table 46.— PROPORTION OF WORKERS EARNING LESS THAN $8, AND PROPORTION 
OF THESE UNDER IS YEARS OF AGE, BY LARGE AND SMALL SHOPS. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Item. 


Large shops. 


Small shops. 


Number. 


Percent. 


Number. 


Percent. 




402 




143 




Earning under $S 

Under 18 years of age 






115 

20 


28.0 
22. 


45 

9 


31.5 
20.0 



While the worker in the small shop completes a whols, the worker 
in the large shop completes a specific part and, because of the superior 
product, an even higher degree of efficiency is sometimes required 
from the subordinate workers, while the increased supervisory force 
increases the wage scale greatly. The disappearance of the small 
shop with its opportunities for training young workers, however, is 
leaving a gap in the industrial world which should be bridged by such 
educational agencies as are necessary to equip the prospective 
workers. 

Since the occupation signifies a fairly definite degree and type 
of ability, it determines to a large degree the wage. The 25 or more 
occupations in the dressmaking trade may be grouped into three 
classes— the professional, the purely industrial, and the general 
service. With the latter may be inc hided the clerical workers. The 
professional and the general service groups constitute the extremes 
in skill, ability, and consequent wage, while the industrial workers 
constitute the great middle class. 

The industrial class comprises the plain sewers and finishers, 
embroiderers, collar and lining makers, machine operators, and 
pressers, all of whom need manual skill primarily. They formed 
more than one-half (55 per cent) of the 600 custom workers and 
almost two-thirds (62.5 per cent) of the 522 factory workers em- 
ployed during 1910-11 in the 14 shops and two factories studied. 

The professional class comprises the designers, forewomen, cutters, 
fitters, shoppers, tailors, drapers, and makers, who stand for artistic 
sense, creative and administrative ability in addition to manual skill 
and constitute somewhat more than one-fourth (29.8 per cent) of the 
custom but only 15.9 per cent of the factory workers. The general 
service and clerical group comprises the traveling saleswomen, models 
of the factory branch, office force, and the stock and errand girls, consti- 
tuting 7 per cent of the custom and 4.8 per cent of the factory workers. 

i United Stales Census of Manufactures, 1905, Pt. IV. p. 709. 



134 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



The industrial group and the unclassified workers, who are largely 
the drifters of the trade, occupy an unduly large place in the working 
force for a one-year period because of their shifting and instability. 
In the week when the largest number was employed the professional 
group formed 33.8 per cent of the custom and 21.9 per cent of the 
factory workers. The industrial group formed 53.3 per cent of the 
custom workers as compared with 66 per cent of the factory force. 
The clerical and general service represented about the same propor- 
tion in both, 6.1 per cent in the custom trade and 6.5 per cent in the 
factory branch. The unclassified group formed 6.9 per cent of the 
custom and 5.6 per cent of the factory workers. 

The following table shows both the division of the working force 
among these three groups and the classified weekly wages within 
each group : 

Table 47.— CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES OF 000 CUSTOM WORKERS, BY OCCUPATIONS. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





$1 

and 
under 

$5 


$5 

and 

under 

$10 


$10 

and 

under 

$15 


$15 

and 

under 

$20 


$20 

and 

under 

$25 


$25 

and 

under 

$30 


$30 

and 

under 

$35 


$35 
and 
over. 


Un- 
classi- 
fied. 


Total. 


Occupation. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Professional. 










1 
IS 


4 

1 
1 
1 


1 


1 
2 




6 

36 

10 
4 

7 
1 

48 
35 

11 

i 


1.0 


Tailors: 




2 

- 2 


10 
3 

3 

1 

= 40 

23 

5 

<5 
5 
1 


C 
3 


\ 8.7 
















.7 








3 




i 1 






1.2 


















.1 


Drapers: 




1 
3 

1 

5 
2 


r> 
6 
1 






I 

1 






1 


Skirts 




2 









- 15.0 












) 


Makers: 










1 


Skirts 












\ 3.1 








1 ' 






1 










1 i 






Total 




1« 


103 


25 


21 


7 


4 


3 




179 


29.8 








Industrial. 
Finishers: 


12 
5 
1 

22 


80 

74 
9 

60 

1 
ti 

1 


18 
12 


3 










113 
91 
10 
87 

s 
1 

8 
11 
1 




Skirts 






1 




• 50.2 










1 




Finishers and plain sewers 


4 
2 










1 










J 


1.3 












| 




.2 




1 


31 , 

5 













1.3 
















1.8 



















.2 




















Total 


41 


213 


42 


3 


1 


. 




1 


330 l 


55.0 












Clerical and general service. 
Office 




3 

8 


4 
2 


4 

4 1 






. 1 


11 
31 


1.8 


Stock and errand girls 


19 











1 


5.2 












Total 


19 ; 


11 


6 


5 










1 


42 
49 


7.0 
















1 


29 


10 


1 


| 






8 


8.2 














01 


299 


161 


34 


21 




4 


3 


10 


600 


100.0 







i Head fitter. 2 Occupation not definitely specified, 3. 3 1 lead of linings. * Head of stock. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



135 



It appears from this that the workers in each division of the custom 
force show a characteristic earning capacity. Almost three-fourths 
(73 . 7 per cent) of the industrial workers came within the $5 to $ 1 group, 
a similar proportion, 71.5 -per cent, of the prof essional group earned 
from $10 to $20, and nearly one-half of the general and clerical work- 
ers earned under $5. The workers of the professional group comprise 
the widest range of occupations, ability, and wage, for above the mak- 
ers and drapers, who constitute the majority and congregate within 
the $10 to $15 group, are the designers and forewomen, tailors, cut- 
ters, and fitters, 44.9 per cent of whom earn $20 or more, and at the top 
appear a few heads and experts earning from $30 to $50 a week. In 
the clerical and general service group at the one extreme are the 
young errand girls earning less than $5, and at the other the $15 book- 
keeper and $18 head of stock in the large commercialized shop. 

Much greater standardization of wage, work, and workers appears in 
the factory trade, as already noted; nearly two-thirds of the working 
force are industrial workers and need manual skill primarily. More 
than three-fourths of the workers in each of the three groups come 
within the $5 to $15 group. Power-machine operators and finishers 
or plain sewers constituted more than one-half the working force; 
but 13.2 per cent of the women were drapers and designers and fore- 
women typifying artistic skill or administrative ability, and few even 
of these exceeded $15. The new opportunity for women appears in 
the clerical and general service group, in the models earning from $10 
to $15, and the traveling saleswomen from $15 to $20. 

Table 48 CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES OF 522 FACTORY WORKERS/ BY OCCUPA- 
TIONS. 

[Basel on pay rolls.) 





SI $5 

and | and 

under under 

$5 | $10 


$10 
and 

under 
815 


S15 

and 

under 

820 


820 
and 

under 
825 


825 

and 

under 

$30 


830 


835 


Total. 


Occupation. 


$|JS. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Professional. 














3 


1;} " 






1 
3 

20 
4 


i 

24 

10 


3 
5 

1 


} 


1 

1 






Ill 2. 1 


Drapers: 




U » 7 


Skirts 


2 










t 


_ .1 




Total 


2 


28 


37 


9 


2 


2 ! 3 


S3 15.9 






Industrial. 


4S 
1 


105 

8 81 






1 


1 


153 29.3 




32 
3 
4 






! 


114 1 








i 


3 - 23.6 






2 
5 

1 

1 
6 






... 


6 I 




24 








29 5. 6 




1 
6 








2 .4 


Pressers: 




2 
2 


1 






14 } 3 " rt 






1 








j " " 






Total 


73 


201 


48 


4 




... 




326 1 62.5 




1 









t Of the professional group, 78.3 per cent earn from $5 to 815: of the industrial group, 76.4 per cent earn 
from 85 to 815; and of the clerical and general service group, 76 per cent earn from 85 to 815. 
2 One man. 



136 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



Table 48 — CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES OF 522 FACTORY WORKERS, BY OCCUPA- 
TION S-Concluded. 





$1 $5 

and and 

under under 

$5 j $10 


$10 $15 

and and 

under under 

$15 $20 


$20 

and 

under 

$25 


$25 


$30 


$35 
and 
over. 


Total. 


i (ccupal ion. 


under under 
$30 i $35 

1 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Clerical and general senice. 
Traveling saleswomen 






1 










1 

6 

5 

12 

1 


.2 






6 
3 






1 i 


Oilice 




1 

18 


1 


.. . 1 . 




1. C 




4 


■■ 1 




2.3 




1 






.2 














Total 


4 


9 


10 


2 


1 




25 


4.8 












15 


69 


4 




1 




88 


16.8 














94 


307 


99 


15 


2 I...... 


2 


3 


522 


100 











1 One boy. 

But the significance of the w T eekly wage in a skilled trade like dress- 
making must be interpreted by two important factors which largely 
determine it, age and experience. 

Since the value of the worker is dependent on "common sense," 
as the dressmakers phrase it, and on the manual skill accompanying 
maturity, the wage is to a certain extent determined by age. The 
young worker under 18 has a very small place in the trade, consti- 
tuting but 8.5 per cent of the 600 custom workers studied from pay 
rolls. Table 49 shows the weekly wages of 95 workers under 18. 
Approximately, two-thirds of the 14 to 1 6 year old girls earned less 
than $5 as compared with one-fourth of those from 16 to 18 years; 
45.6 per cent of those 16 to 18 years old earned less than $6 as com- 
pared with about the same proportion, 40.7 per cent, of the 14 to 
16 year group who earned less than $4. Practically the same pro- 
portion earned less than $8 and none earned $9. 

Table 49.— CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES OF WORKERS, BY TWO CLASSIFIED AGE 

GROUPS. 

[Based on pay rolls and personal interviews.] 



Classified weekly 
wages. 


Workers 14 and un- 
der 16 years. 


Workers 16 and under 
18 years. 


Number. 


Cumula- 
tive per 
cent. 


Number. 


Cumula- 
tive per 
cent. 




1 

4 
11 
17 
19 
25 
26 


3.7 
14.8 
40.7 
63.0 
70.4 
92.6 
96.3 
100.0 


1 

4 

9 

19 

31 

56 
65 

68 


1.5 

5.9 
13.2 
27.9 
45.6 
83.8 
95.6 
100.0 


Under $3 


Under $4 


Under $5 


Under $6 


Under $7 


Under $8 


Under $9 





DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



137 



Two of the 200 workers personally -interviewed were under 16, one 
earning $5 and one $6 a week as finishers. The one receiving $5 
had attended the Boston Trade School and the one receiving $6 
had gained experience sewing at home for younger brothers and 
sisters and at public night school, so both had been able to enter the 
shop as sewers, which is unusual for girls of this age. 

While it was impossible to secure the ages of all the older workers 
studied on pay rolls, the women of 16 to 20 years constituted 31.5 per 
cent of the 200 personally visited, and 93.7 per cent of these earned 
less than $9. Almost one-half (49.5 per cent) of the 200 workers 
visited were under 22 years of age and just two-thirds (66.7 per cent) 
of this group earned less than $8, while but 9.9 per cent of the women 
22 or more years of age earned less than this minimum. To what 
extent the large proportion in the low-wage group may be explained 
by youth and immaturity it is impossible to say, because of lack of 
official statistics. Observation in Boston, Glasgow, and Paris, how- 
ever, confirms the belief that a large proportion of the regular work- 
ing force in the shops is made up of comparatively young women. 

Up to 35 years the workers show in general a tendency to advance- 
ment in wage. The age of 35 represents the climax of opportunity 
in the trade. Those who have the capacity for leadership have been 
discovered and brought to the front. Those who have not reached 
success before this will probably not advance much beyond the 
position they then hold. 

Table 50.-AGE GROUPS OF WORKERS, BY CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES. 
[Based on personal interviews.] 













N umber 


if workers 


earning— 










Age group. 


Un- 
der 
$5 


$5 
and 
un- 
der 

$6 


$6 
and 
un- 
der 

17 


87 
and 
un- 
der 

$8 


$8 
and 
un- 
der 

$9 


.159 
and 
un- 
der 
$10 


$10 
and 
un- 
der 
$12 


$12 
and 
un- 
der 
$15 


$15 
and 
un- 
der 

$18 


$18 
and 
un- 
der 

$20 


$20 
and 
un- 
der 
$25 


$25 
and 
over. 


Oth- 
ers. 1 


To- 
tal. 






1 
6 
1 


1 
9 
20 

6 
1 






















2 


16 and under 18 years 


2 
4 


4 


2 


















n 


18 and under 20 years 


5 

4 


6 
6 
4 


— 
i 

3 
2 
5 

3 


1 

6 
6 
1 


1 
3 
2 
5 
2 
3 
2 

1 










2 
1 
1 
2 
2 
5 
3 


40 


1 

1 

2 








34 


22 and under 25 years 




1 








21 


25 and under 30 vears 




1 
1 


2 

1 




1 


1 


23 


30 and under 35 years 








3 
5 
3 


3 


1 


4 


20 










1 




1 


?0 










1 
1 





n 










1 






3 












1 








1 


?. 




























Total 


6 


9 


37 


24 


21 


22 


17 


19 


15 


5 


2 


6 


17 


200 







i Independents, pieceworkers, and drifters. 



138 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



The wage groups, therefore, have a fairly definite personnel. The 
less than $7 group is distinctly the' zone of the young worker who 
is under the age of 20. The $7 and less than $10 group includes 
workers of all ages from the young girl under IS to the woman over 50, 
because it represents only mediocre manual skill. The $10 and less 
than $15 group and the $15 and under $18 group show workers of 
a higher degree of artistic and creative ability, excluding the very 
young and including some women in the forties who have reached 
this stage earlier in their career but never advanced beyond it. 
The $18 and over wage group contains the artists, administrators, 
and creators, and consists for the most part of women of 25 to 40, 
excluding both young "and old. Two classes at the extremes — ■ 
those earning less than $5 and those earning over $18 — are clear- 
cut types, the former comprising the young learner and the latter 
the expert; the $7 to $10 group at the center is a motley collection 
of all ages, the workers here possessing but mediocre skill. 

The length of experience as well as age determines the value and 
earning capacity of the worker, since the dressmaking trade requires 
training of the eye and hand and development of skill and taste. 
The wage increases with experience up to 15 years in the trade, 
after which the relation becomes decreasingly apparent. Ten years 
or more seems to be necessary to place the worker within the pro- 
fessional group earning $15 or more, but in five years she should be 
earning a living wage of $9 or more. 



Table 51 RELATION OF EXPERIENCE TO WEEKLY WAGES. 

[Based on personal interviews.] 







Number of workers earning weekly— 






Years of experience. 


Un- 
der 

$4 


$4 
and 
un- 
der 

85 


$5 
and 
un- 
der 

SO 


$6 
and 
un- 
der 

$7 


$7 
and 
un- 
der 

$8 


$8 
and 
un- 
der 

89 


89 

and 
un- 
der 

$10 


810 
and 
un- 
der 
812 


$12 
and 
un- 
der 
$15 


$15 
and 
un- 
der 

$18 


$18 
and 
un- 
der 

$20 


$20 
and 
un- 
der 

$25 


$25 
and 
over. 


Oth- 
ers. 


To- 
tal. 


Under 1 year 


1 


3 

-71 


3 

5 

1 


8 
14 
10 
3 
9, 


2 
2 
S 
4 
2 
3 












1 






17 




4 


2 


2 
1 


1 




| 




1 


31 






3 ... 




1 




24 








5 
2 
2 
3 
1 


5 
1 

4 
1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

22 


' 2 










3 


23 


4 and under 5 vears 








4 

2 

1 
2 

1 
3 

1 










11 


5 and under 6 vears 










2 
1 
.1 
1 

3 

3 
2 












11 






















7 














2 

1 








fi 




















1 


6 


9 and under 10 yeur^. . . 




















5 












1 
1 

1 


1 
21 


3 
4 
4 
1 


1 
2 

?, 


2 


1 

5 


2 
4 
6 


18 












21 












17 


















3 






5 


9 




















Total 


1 


37 


24 


17 


19 


15 5J2 


6 


17 


200 













DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 139 

The wage group of less than $7, therefore, is primarily the zone 
of the young worker under 20 years of age and with less than 5 
years' experience. The $7 and less than $10 group includes not 
only young and old but women with a working experience ranging 
from 1 year or less to 20 years and more. The experts earning $18 
or more are, in the main, women 25 to 40 years of age with a working 
experience of 10 but less than 20 years. 

But the weekly wage by no means gives a true insight into the 
actual weekly earnings, for days lost cause a surprising reduction 
of the nominal weekly wage. Holidays, of which there are nine in 
Massachusetts, and occasional days lost for illness or personal rea- 
sons reduce the earnings, for the workers are paid for actual service 
only. Deduction for tardiness is made in two custom shops where 
time clocks have been installed, but this is unusual. 1 

The irregularity of work and consequent variation between the 
nominal wage and actual earnings differ with different workers and 
different shops. The following table shows the extent to which the 
workers in one shop are affected by such irregularity: 

Table 52.— OCCUPATION, WAGE, AND PROPORTION OF FULL WEEKS OF SIX DAYS 
EACH FOR ALL WORKERS EMPLOYED 39 OR MORE WEEKS IN SHOP "A" DURING 
WORKING SEASON. 

[Based on pay roll.] 



Occupation. 


Nominal 
weekly 
wage. 


Total Number 
number full weeks 

weeks of 6 days 
worked. each." 


Number 
part weeks 
of less than 

6 days. 


Head skirt draper. 

Waist draper 

Head tailor 

Clerical 


818 
9 
30 
8 
30 
IS 
25 
12 
10 
14 
16 
21 
5 


50 
50 
49 
48 
46 
44 
43 
43 
43 
42 
41 
40 
39 


11 
30 
41 
15 

30 
34 
29 
28 
22 
25 
22 
7 


39 
20 

8 
33 

9 
14 

9 
14 
15 
20 
16 
IS 
32 


Head fitter 

Fitter 


Fitter and cutter,. 


Embroiderer 

Sleeve draper 

Waist draper 

Tailor 


Waist finisher 



The head skirt draper on $18 a week had only 1 1 full weeks of 6 days 
each and consequently received her nominal wage of $18 for only this 
number out of a working season of 50 weeks. The waist finisher on 
$5 a week received that sum for but 7 out of the 39 weeks in the shop. 
The head tailor and head fitter on $30 a week do not suffer deduction, 
however, for occasional days lost, since those earning more than $25 
are usually on a professional basis. In general, the well-paid work- 
ers seem to lose less time from short absences; this may be partially 
due to their sense of responsibility as well as to better conditions. 
Employers frequently complain of the irresponsibility of many work- 
ers who stay out for all sorts of reasons, greatly handicapping those 
in the shop. Whatever is the cause, 100 people working 40 to 45 

iThe various causes of reduction of the income of workers in other industries are discussed in The 
Living Wage of Women Workers, by M. Louise Bosworth, pp. 33-39. 



140 



BULLETIN OF THE EUEEAU OF LABOE STATISTICS. 



weeks had a median number of only 30 full weeks of 6 days and con- 
sequently only 30 full weeks' pay. 

Table 53.— PROPORTION OF WEEKS NOT BROKEN BY SHORT ABSENCES, IN A 

50-WEEK PERIOD, FOR COO CUSTOM WORKERS. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





Number of 


Median 




persons 


number 


AVeeks worked. 


working 


full weeks 




specified 


of 6 days 




weeks. 


worked. 




2 
29 


20 
37 


45 and under 50 weeks 


40 and under 45 weeks 


100 


30 


35 and under 40 weeks 


53 


23 


30 and under 35 weeks 


35 


22 


25 and under 30 weeks 


32 


15 


20 and under 25 weeks 


17 


13 


15 and under 20 weeks 


39 


10 


10 and under 15 weeks 


55 


7 


5 and under 10 weeks 


85 


3 


1 and under 4 weeks 


151 
2 




Unclassified 




Total 




600 







The number of full weeks with full pay ranges from one-half to 
three-fourths of the number of weeks worked by 600 custom workers. 

The actual earnings of the workers are, therefore, much lower than 
the nominal weekly wage. Taking the more stable group employed 
25 or more weeks in a single shop as a basis, the following table shows 
the relation between the nominal and the actual wages: 

Table 54.— NOMINAL AND ACTUAL AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES OF 250 CUSTOM AND 139 

FACTORY WORKERS EMPLOYED 25 OR MORE WEEKS IN ONE SHOP.' 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





Workers in custom shops. 


Workers in factories. 


Classified, weekly wages. 


Nominal wages. 


Actual average 
wages. 2 


Nominal wages. 


Actual average 
wages. 2 




Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 




14 
21 

39 
60 
101 
127 
149 
123 
74 
34 
21 


5.6 
8.4 
15.6 
24.0 
40.4 
50.8 
59.6 
49.2 
29.6 
13.6 
8.4 


28 

44 

69 

115 

139 

169 

111 

81 

47 

24 

15 


11.2 
17.6 
27.6 
46.0 
55.6 
67.6 
44.4 
32.4 
18.8 
9.6 
0.0 


5 
7 
14 
20 
42 
70 
97 
69 
31 
13 
8 


3.6 

5.0 

10.1 

14.4 

30.2 

50.4 

69.8 

49.6 

22.3 

9.4 

5.8 


10 
19 
36 
70 
99 
112 
40 
25 
13 

2 


7.2 


Under $6 


13.7 


Under $7 


25.9 


Under $8 


50.4 


Under $9 


71.2 


Under $10 


80.6 




28.8 




17.9 




9.4 




5.0 


$18 and over 


1.4 







i The 250 custom workers include 9 men, none receiving less than $9, and 5 children under 16, four of 
whom earned less than $5, and the 139 factory workers include 8 men, none earning less than $12. 

2 Actual average weekly wages are based oh total income of those working 25 weeks or more divided by 
the number of weeks worked. 

Among the custom workers 40.4 per cent nominally received less 
than $9, but actually the average weekly earnings of 55.6 per cent 
fell below $9. Almost one-half (49.2 per cent) received a nominal 
wage of $10 or more, though but 32.4 per cent actually earned this 






DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



141 



amount. The loss is much heavier, however, in the factory group. 
Of the 139 employed 25 or more weeks in one shop, 30.2 received a 
nominal wage of less than $9, while the actual average earnings of 
71.2 per cent fell below this minimum; 49.6 per cent received a nominal 
wage of $10 or more, but the actual average weekly earnings of only 
17.9 per cent reached or passed $10. 

The cumulative loss of earnings due to short absences of less than 
one week for 250 custom workers and 139 factory workers employed 
25 weeks or more in a single shop was considerable. 

Table 55.— PERCENTAGE OF REDUCTION OF NOMINAL INCOME CAUSED BY SHORT 
ABSENCES FOR 250 CUSTOM AND 139 FACTORY WORKERS EMPLOYED 25 OR MORE 
WEEKS IN A SPECIFIED SHOP, BY TYPES OF DRESSMAKING. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Types of dressmaking. 


Percentage ol loss. 


Median. 


Upper 

quartile. 


Lower 

quartile. 


Average. 


Custom dressmaking 

Factory dressmaking 


8.7 
13.6 


13. 2 6. 3 
17.1 10.7 


10. 5 

1 1. 



The median loss for custom workers was 8.7 per cent and for factory 
workers 13.6 per cent; the average loss 10.5 per cent for custom and 
14 per cent for factory workers. For 56 per cent of these custom 
workers, the reduction of nominal income amounted to less than 10 
per cent, and for 59 per cent of the factory workers to less than 15 
per cent. Therefore, if we desire to estimate the actual earnings of 
the workers and have not access to pay rolls, the nominal income of 
custom workers may be reduced about 10 per cent and of factory 
workers 14 per cent for short absences alone. 

While the percentage of loss varies with different types of shops, 
it also varies with different types of workers. In custom dressmaking 
the percentage of loss from short absences decreases' with increasing 
wage, ranging from 11.8 per cent for the workers earning less than 
$5 to 6.3 per cent for the women earning $15 and over, and in factory 
dressmaking from 14.4 per cent for the workers earning $5 and under 
$10 to 7.4 per cent for those earning $15 or more. 

Table 56.— PERCENTAGE OF REDUCTION OF NOMINAL INCOME CAUSED BY SHORT 
ABSENCES FOR 250 CUSTOM AND 139 FACTORY WORKERS EMPLOYED 25 OR MORE 
WEEKS IN A SPECIFIED SHOP, BY WAGE GROUPS. 

[Based on pay rolls.] 





Custom shops. 


Manufacturing shops. 


Classified weekly wages. 


Median. 


Lower 
quartile. 


Upper 
quartile. 


Median. 


Lower 
quartile. 


Upper 
quartile. 


Under $5 


11.8 
10.1 
8.5 
6.3 


7.3 
6.7 
6.6 
3.1 


23.5 
14.0 
12.4 
10.4 


13.7 
14.4 
12.8 
7.4 


12.6 
11.9 
10.7 
3.0 


14.4 


S5 and under $10 


18.4 


810 and under 815 


17.1 


815 and over 


10.4 






Total 


8.7 


6.3 IS- 9. 


13.6 


10. 7 i 17. 1 













142 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 



Two factors, therefore, deduction for short absences and loss from 
slack season, modify the actual earnings of the worker. The former 
can not possibly be determined from any source but the pay-roll 
records, since the workers can not remember. The latter can not 
be accurately determined from this source, since the worker often fills 
in her time in several shops. 

The annual income for employees from tue shop therefore can not 
be computed without danger of misleading returns, but the total 
earnings for workers employed 40 weeks or more in a single shop are 
presented as suggestive. Two of the 14 custom shops had a shorter 
trade year than 40 weeks, and all their workers must be excluded 
from the following table showing the classification by total income. 
Only 22.9 per cent (125) of the 545 women 18 years and over in custom 
dressmaking, and 14.2 per cent (71) of the 500 women in factory 
dressmaking, therefore, are considered from this standpoint of annual 
income. 

Table 57.— ACTUAL INCOME OF 125 WOMEN 16 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER IN 12 CUSTOM 
SHOPS AND 71 IN 2 MANUFACTURING SHOPS WORKING 40 WEEKS AND OVER. 

(Based on pay rolls.] 



Classified annual earning.-. 


Workers in custom 
shops. 


Workers in manufac- 
turing shops. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Under $200 


6 
13 

28 
52 
68 
82 
96 
29 
21 
14 
11 
9 


4.8 
10.4 
22. 4 
41.6 
54.4 
65.6 
76.8 
23.2 
16.8 
11.2 
8.8 
7. 2 


4 
6 
12 
21 
35 
51 
fa'8 
13 
8 
5 


5.6 
8.5 
16.9 
29.6 
49.3 
71.8 
81.7 
18.3 
11.3 
7.0 


Under $250 


Under $300 


Under $350 


Under $400 


Under $450 

Under $500 


$500 and over 




$600 and over 




$700 and over. . . 


1 




4 


5.6 


$800 and over 


7 


5.6 




1 


1.4 


$900 and over 






$950 and over 


5 
4 


4.0 
3. 5 




$1,000 and over... 







I 



It must be borne in mind that these arc the favored group whose 
earnings are necessarily higher than the earnings of those who must 
drift from shop to shop to piece out their income for the year. If 
$450 is accepted as the minimum annual income on which a woman 
can live, 65.6 per cent of the custom workers and 71.8 per cent of the 
factory workers were not earning a living wage. If $400 is accepted 
as a possible minimum, 54.4 per cent of the custom workers and 49.3 
per cent of the factory workers are not self-supporting. Three- 
fourtlis of the custom and four-fifths of the factory dressmakers studied 
in Boston earned less than $500. The average total income of the 
women working 40 weeks or more in a single custom dressmaking 
shop -was $439.82, and for the workers in factory dressmaking $405.23. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



143 



The Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission reports show that 
the wage scale of other large women-employing industries is still 
lower; 83.4 per cent of the "regulars" employed in stores earned 
less than $450; 88.9 per cent in paper-box factories, 91.5 per cent in 
hosiery and knit goods, and 93.5 per cent in laundries earned an 
annual income of less than $450. * 

The regular or stable workers in the dressmaking shop seem to have 
a fairly definite season and income on which they can depend from 
year to year. The following table shows the working season of 22 
workers employed 40 weeks or more for two consecutive years in 
shop B: 

Table 58.— ANNUAL INCOME OF 22 WOMEN, 16 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER. EMPLOYED 
40 OR MORE WEEKS IN 2 CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN SHOP "B." 

[Based on pay rolls.] 



Case 

No. 


1909-10 


1910-11 


1 ncrease or 

decrease In 

income. 


Increase 

or de- 
crease in 
weeks 
worked. 


Income for 
year. 


Weeks 
worked. 


Income for 

year. 


Weeks 

worked. 


1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 


SI, 241. 33 
830. 33 
624.66 
623.00 
622. 65 
613. 73 
587. 12 
567. 26 
481.37 
470. 00 
437. S6 
418. 43 
414. 20 
410.42 
405. 27 
344.97 
316. 56 
287.20 
278.67 
273. 76 
253.23 
211.18 


45 
43 
43 
45 
44 
44 
44 
43 
43 
42 
42 
42 
43 
42 
43 
43 
41 
45 
42 
45 
42 
43 


$1,308.67 
958.34 

630. 88 
665.00 

044.81 
563. 25 

634. 16 
546. 62 
571.44 

1 tf. 56 
432. 13 

148.03 
450.6H 
463. 26 

470. 17 
392. 06 
327. 76 
299. 60 
332. 60 
312.28 
299.33 
288.90 


4rt 
43 
It 
46 
43 
40 
H 
41 
41 
43 
41 
43 
44 
41 
46 
43 
40 
!3 
42 
45 


+867.34 

+ 128.01 
+ 6.22 
+ 42.00 
+ 22.16 

- 50.48 
+ 47.04 

- 20.64 
+ 90.07 
+ 17.56 

- 5.73 
+ 29.60 
+ 36.49 
+ 52.84 
+ 73.90 
+ 47.09 
+ 11.20 
+ 12.40 
+ 53.93 
+ 68.52 


+ 1 


+ 1 
+ 1 
-1 
-4 


-2 

+ 1 
+ 1 
-1 
+ 1 
+ 1 
-1 
+3 


-1 

-2 




41 
45 


+ 46.10 
+ 77.7, 


-1 

+ 2 



It appears that the number of weeks worked varied very little, 
though all but two of the workers showed a higher income in 1910-11 
than in 1909-10 because of increase in salary. 

The loss of wage for holidays and occasional days off usually can not 
be made up by the employee, except by sewing for friends, but the 
loss from time laid off is met by some through secondary employ- 
ments. 

Almost one-fourth, 43 of the 200 workers visited, found other 
employment during the dull season. The wage, season, and age 
determine not only whether the worker resorts to a secondary employ- 
ment but also the kind she takes up. 

Only one of the six workers earning $1 to $5 per week found other 
work, because they were young and immature and because their par- 

i Massachusetts, Reports of the Minimum Wage Commission, 1914 and 1915. 



144 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



ents wore unwilling for them to leave the paternal roof for work out- 
side the city. On the other hand, not one receiving more than $15 
was found seeking other work. Such a woman is usually able to take 
the much-ngeded rest. The pay-roll record of the workers in the two 
extreme wage groups, those receiving under $5 and those receiving 
$15 or over, may, therefore, be generally regarded as the actual income 
of these workers. None of the girls under 17 sought other work 
because they were not yet dependent on their earnings, but gave 
their services to the family during the vacations. One-half of those 
resorting to secondary employment earned from $6 to $8, were from 
17 to 22 years of age, and had a working season of 8 or 9 months. 
The following table shows the occupations to which the 43 workers 
mentioned resorted during the dull season in their regular trade: 

Table 59.— SECONDARY EMPLOYMENTS REPORTED BY 43 WORKERS. 
[Based on personal interviews.] 



Secondary employments. 


Number of 
workers. 


Bookkeeper 


1 
1 
4 
1 
1 
1 
1 
24 
1 
6 


Booth tender 


Child's nurse 


Clerk 










Straw machine operator 




2 



It will be noticed that three occupations, sewing by the day or at 
home for friends, serving as waitress, and acting as child's nurse, are 
the most common. Age and maturity determine to a certain extent 
the kind of secondary employment the girl takes up. Acting as 
child's nurse is a young girl's employment, none over 19 resorting to 
it. Waitress work is the resort of the stronger and more mature 
woman,, none under 25 reporting this for secondary employment. 
The older woman over 30 who has not sufficient skill to secure sewing 
from friends or neighbors must resort to "odd jobs." But the girl 
who sews has a trade which she can always utilize at spare moments, 1 
and there are few girls who do not have acquaintances, friends, or 
relatives who are wanting clothes made at the first spare moment. 
"Oh, I don't mind being laid off," said a skirt girl earning $11 a week, 
"I always have friends and relatives waiting for me to make up their 
clothes. Sometimes I make as much as $25 a week sewing in vacation." 
A girl of 18 who had been in the trade only one and one-quarter years 



' Great Britain, Royal Commission on Labor. Conditions of Work in Liverpool and Manchester (1906), 
by Clara E. Collet. Miss Collet discovered in Liverpool and Manchester that "Many girls took in work 
from neighbors to do at home in the evenings and slack time." "Some of these season hands would do 
dressmaking on their own account when the season was over." 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 145 

"gets in some sewing from neighbors, but is not enough advanced 
to undertake much." A young girl of 20 who has been in the trade 
three and one-half years works by the day among the neighbors 
about three months in summer and one week in winter, receiving $2 
a day, and helps with the family sewing when she has time. A 
woman of 38, who is head skirt girl on a weekly wage of $15, has 
worked at the summer home of two of her employer's customers for 
the last eight years and received $10 a week and board. She makes 
up fancy house dresses and evening gowns. "A girl who can sew 
can get all the work she can do at home and by going out by the day. 
All the girls in our shop (force of 15 to 20) can hardly wait until 
vacation." 

New England, with its many summer resorts, offers numerous 
opportunities for girls who wish a secondary occupation in the 
summer. Six of the girls visited went to summer hotels as waitresses 
in the summer months, when their shop was closed. "I have gone 
to summer hotels as a waitress for about 20 years," said a head waist 
girl on a $15 weekly wage. "We get $15 a month with room and 
board and our tips amount to from $40 to $60 for the season." 
Another woman went to a summer hotel every summer where she 
received $3 a week, but "made $100 a season by tips." A woman of 
30 had been "waiting on table at Magnolia for the last four years. 
We receive $3.50 a week and $2 more a week for tips. I'm sorry I 
didn't do it sooner. I get a rest and a vacation from sewing. I'm 
saving money, and am at no expense. Usually the girls don't receive 
their money until the end of the season; then they have quite a little 
sum toward a bank account. At the hotels where I go there are a 
great many nice girls — teachers and sewing girls." Employers some- 
times complain that their girls leave them before the spring season 
is over to go to the summer resorts and that they get back late in the 
fall. Other employers are glad to make arrangements to allow the 
employee a change of work. 

The summer dull season is not a source of dread to all workers, as 
is the popular supposition, but has a varied significance for the work- 
ers in the dressmaking trade. For the highly paid worker it means 
vacation and rest. For the energetic and athletic and outdoors- 
loving girl it means change of occupation in employment at summer 
hotels and resorts. For the resourceful girl who knows or wishes no 
other trade it means sewing by the day among acquaintances and 
relatives. For the inefficient, without the power of adjustment, it 
it means "out of work." 

It is just this t} T pe of worker who is unable to make adjustments 
when occasion demands. A finisher of 35 years or more earning $9 a 
week supported her aunt, her niece, and herself. She had very short 
29SS5°— Bull. 193—16— — 10 



146 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

seasons, and at the time of the visit was out of work. " Why don't you 
try to find some other kind of work during the dull season in your 
trade?" "Oh. I should never dare go out and try something I knew 
nothing about," she said. "Did you ever try going out by the day ?" 
asked the investigator. " No ; I never tried it," she said. "But I think 
I should like it. " For 20 years she had been struggling along from shop 
to shop as a finisher, yet had never dared "try something else" 
nor tried to fill in by sewing by the day. 

The dressmaking trade, therefore, with certain advantages, pre- 
sents some big problems for solution. Still primarily woman's 
sphere, the competition of men does not complicate the situation. 
While the wage may seem low, few other industries show as high a 
wage scale, and the opportunity for advancement and corresponding 
income is unique in custom dressmaking. Nevertheless, more than 
one-half in custom and two-thirds in factory dressmaking are indus- 
trial workers, with varying degrees of manual skill, earning from $5 to 
$10. The professional workers, who combine skill with artistic and 
administrative ability, representing one-third of the custom and one- 
fifth of the factory workers, are found in the $10 to $15 wage group, 
though experts and heads range from $18 to $50 a week. Viewing 
the wage with regard to two important factors, age and experience, 
those earning less than $5 are found to be young workers with short 
experience and those earning $18 and over young women between 25 
and 30 years of age with a working experience of more than 10 and 
less than 20 years. The large group earning $7 to $10 comprises an 
infinite variety of ages and experience, but with one common 
characteristic — mediocre ability. 

But the real earnings of the worker can not be accurately estimated 
from her nominal weekly wage, for this is decreased by two important 
factors: short absences and dull season. Short absences of less than 
a week reduce the income of the custom worker about 10 per cent 
and that of the factory employee 14 per cent. The loss from slack 
season is more difficult to estimate, but is probably considerable. 
Many therefore must resort to subsidiary occupations to supplement 
their income. The woman who sews is more fortunate than most 
workers, as she has a trade that can always be utilized, if not for 
profit, at least for the advantage of herself and her family. Some, 
however, because of immaturity, lack of skill, or desire for change, 
resort to quite different occupations. 



CHAPTER VII. 
TEACHING THE TRADE. 

How can the young worker learn the trade? This important ques- 
tion is increasingly demanding attention with the contemporary dis- 
appearance of opportunity both in the home and in the trade itself. 
In 1699, Hannah Buckmaster, aged 12 years, with the consent of her 
mother, was apprenticed for five years to Joseph Latham, shipwright, 
and Jane, his wife, seamstress and mantomaker, to be taught "to 
make mantoes, pettycoats, sew and marke plain worke," and in 1700, 
Mary Moore, aged 11 years, with the consent of her father and mother, 
was apprenticed to Richard Stoaks, and Margaret, his wife, for four 
years. Said apprentice was to be taught ''to sew plaine worke and 
reade the English tongue." ' A century and a half later the appren- 
ticeship system was in the last stages of disintegration, though 
various vestiges still survived. 

In 186.3 Virginia Penny wrote that "In New York the conditions 
on which apprentices are taken vary greatly.'' First, some employers 
took on young girls for a period of two years during which they were 
"to learn the trade thoroughly." Second, some took on young work- 
ers for a year and "boarded (them) during that time for their work." 
Third, some "pay nothing for six months and even receive $10 or $15 
for instruction." Miss Penny, however, in 1863 made the very 
modern complaint that " the young girls are kept at making up skirts, 
sewing up sleeves, and such plain work, and so learn nothing during 
the time." Fourth, one employer says, "a girl of fair abilities can 
learn dressmaking in six months." The first three months she did 
not pay anything, but the last three SI a week. After the girls 
had learned she paid according to their taste, skill, and industry. 
Finally, some houses provided no systematic or thorough training at 
all. Young workers "who can sew right well when they commence" 
begin with a nominal wage of $1.50 to $2 a week, '-'but they are not 
taught to fit unless the employer is a conscientious woman and there 
is a special contract." - 

At the opening of the twentieth century the apprenticeship 
system has practically disappeared from custom dressmaking in the 
United States. But a few sporadic instances and the pseudo 

i New York Historic Society Collections, 1585, pp. 582, 5S3. 

2 The Employments of Women, by Virginia Pennv, pp. 325, 320. 

147 



148 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

apprenticeship of the errand-girl service remain. The pay roll of one 
of the large shops showed a young girl working for no wage some six 
weeks. A Swedish employer in Boston, a small dressmaker in Cam- 
bridge, and one in Worcester reported three months' unpaid appren- 
ticeship during which time the girls ran errands and did some simple 
sewing; S3 was the usual beginning wage. A young Italian girl of 
12 or 13 years in the "North End" of Boston had worked after school 
until 9 o'clock for a private dressmaker in that neighborhood for a 
year without pay. Two small employers in Boston reported three 
months' unpaid apprenticeship with car fare. But generally speak- 
ing, unpaid apprenticeship as a means of learning the trade is unusual 
at present. 

Two reasons are given by employers for its disappearance: (1) "we 
can't get girls to serve as apprentices without pay" and (2) "we don't 
want them — we haven't time to teach." The great and unsatisfied 
demand for skilled workers in the trade raises the questions: Why 
do not girls serve the apprenticeship necessary to acquire a good 
trade? Why, on the other hand, if employers are s"o desperate for 
help, do they not try to train their own workers? The answer to 
these questions isf ound in the evolution of the trade itself. Indus- 
trial advancement and competition have resulted in transfer of the 
place of production to industrial quarters and in the development of 
systematized organization, which means that every member of the 
force must show an immediate economic profit. Division of labor is 
carried to a degree which gives little chance for learning the trade as 
a whole. Moreover, since heads of sections must make their divisions 
pay, they have little time or inclination to train the unskilled worker. 
The restriction of custom dressmaking to house gowns of delicate or 
perishable materials leaves small opportunity for the beginner and 
there is very little work left in the professional dressmaker's shop that 
could be turned over to absolutely unskilled hands. The most simple 
processes, such as binding of seams, must be done neatly and carefully 
or the delicate silks and chiffons show bad effects. The hooks and 
eyes must be sewed on by exact measurements. The collars must fit 
perfectly. The ability to handle these delicate materials without muss- 
ing, soiling, or stretching them is a part of the beginner's education. 

What avenue of approach then does the trade itself offer to the 
young inexperienced worker ? Practically the only means of entrance 
for the young girl who has had no previous training or experience is 
through "a pseudo apprenticeship," as M. Alfassa dubs it, 1 that is, 
the errand-girl stage. The errand girl picks up stray bits of informa- 
tion concerning the trade, but this is a slow and haphazard method. 
The French expression "trottin" and the English word "trotter" 

1 La Crise de l'Apprentissage, par Georges Alfassa, iu Annals des Sciences Politiques, July, 1905, pp. 
421-441. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 149 

well express the errand girl's primary occupation. She runs errands 
down town to match materials or buy thread or findings, and delivers 
the gowns at the homes of customers. She may or may not be called 
upon to sweep and dust. She answers the door bell and the telephone 
and is general utility girl. One naturally asks: When does she have 
time to learn anything of the trade ? She is, of course, securing a gen- 
eral training in her shopping expeditions, and in the small and 
medium-sized shop there are many spare moments when she has a 
chance to use her needle. In a large shop, however, where four or 
five errand girls are sometimes employed, one for each workroom, 1 
these girls, like the other workers, are more specialized and have less 
time or opportunity for sewing. Although they sometimes work up 
through the stages of the trade, the system offers occasion for exploi- 
tation of children. One young girl who entered a shop as errand girl 
was at the end of five months put on the sewing force, but another 
worked six years as errand girl at the end of which time her employer 
"thought she was ready for sewing." 

In general, a knowledge of the fundamentals of the trade is essen- 
tial to secure entrance as worker in the shop of to-day. The news- 
papers are full of advertisements like "Dressmaker apprentices paid, 
must be good sewers " ; ' 'Girl wanted to learn dressmaking, paid while 
learning, a little experience preferred." 2 The busy dressmaker is 
rare who will stop to teach the young girl such simple yet essential 
principles as how to hold a needle, to wear a thimble, to hold the mate- 
rials so they will not be mussed or soiled, and to develop accuracy of 
measurement and ability to take neat but rapid stitches. The girl 
formerly acquired these fundamentals to a certain extent in her own 
home, but neither home nor shop now gives systematic training along 
these lines. 

''The question that these investigations raise," wrote Mrs. Oake- 
shott, inspector of women's technical classes in London in 1908, "is 
whether it [apprenticeship] is worth reviving in any form or whether 
as a system workroom training is effete and must be replaced." 3 
Training in the workroom if properly conducted undoubtedly offers 
certain advantages. In a small shop where only a few girls are em- 
ployed the young worker has the advantage of a general training on 
all parts of the gown under the direct supervision of her employer. 
She sees the relation of the different parts to the whole. She has the 
opportunity for adaptation to the discipline of shop hours, learns the 
necessity for strict application, acquires the art of working with 
others, and has a chance to develop initiative. In other words, an 
appreciation of business methods, a realization of the necessity of 
prompt and efficient service, and a sense of values is cultivated. 

i One large shop advertised for 2.5 errand girls. Boston Globe, Sept. 16, 1911. 

s Boston Globe, Oct. 9, 16, 23, 27, 1910, etc. 

a London County Council, Women's Trades ( London, 1908), p. 5. 



150 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

Only the small shop, however, can provide general training for the 
inexperienced young girl of to-day; it has been in a sense a training 
school for many workers in the trade, but census statistics seem to 
show its disappearance and elimination. Moreover, the small shop, 
during the last decade, has become very limited in its field, since 
much of its work now consists largely of alterations and of making a 
medium-grade product. Thus the young worker's experience is 
necessarily restricted, she acquires little or none of the science of the 
trade, and has a very limited opportunity for advancement. Large 
employers frankly admit the small opportunity for inexperienced 
workers. The head dressmaker in a large fashionable establishment 
favored shop training but acknowledged that in her own workroom 
the girl can be given little attention. "We put her into the work- 
room and just let her pick up as best she can, but it is a more prac- 
tical training." "She becomes a helper under one of the more 
advanced girls," said another. The industry no longer teaches its 
workers the trade as a whole but allows them to acquire such knowl- 
edge as they may be able to '"pick up" during their working experi- 
ence in the shop. The exceptional girl will profit by her opportunity 
and sumiount all difficulties, but the great majority will not. 

What can be done to help this great majority bridge the gap? 
Where can the girl get the fundamentals which will enable her to take 
advantage of her opportunities to ''pick up " in the shop ? A cursory 
glance would seem to show that there are many agencies through 
which she might secure the fundamentals: the public day school, the 
night schools, the high school of practical arts, the Young Women's 
Christian Association classes, the various endowed institutions, both 
public and private, where sewing classes are held, the private dress- 
making schools, and lastly, the new and recent development of the 
last decade, the trade schools for girls. With the exception of the last 
method, the purpose and results of all of these efforts may be hastily 
described. 

The aim of the sewing classes of the public day schools has been 
cultural rather than industrial; to give the girl a certain amount of 
manual training which has a definite relation to her domestic life, not 
to equip her to earn her living in that particular trade, any more 
than the corresponding manual training of the boy is to fit him to 
become a carpenter. The manual training in the school usually con- 
sists in simple sewing for two hours once or twice a week in the upper 
grades. The young eighth-grade girl who spent a year making a 
kitchen apron had acquired a knowledge of many processes, such as 
cutting, basting, hemming, and buttonholing, but she was by no 
means equipped to maintain a place in a dressmaking shop. She 
must have more systematic and intensive training to induct her into 
the trade. 



DRESSMAKIXG AS A TRADE TOE WOMEN IX MASSACHUSETTS. 151 

The municipal public school system also provides evening classes 
which include dressmaking in the curriculum, but these are not 
industrial training classes nor do they attempt to train for the trade. 
Their aim is social as well as educational, namely, to make the pupil 
a more efficient producer and consumer in the home. These classes 
perform a valuable service if rightly conducted, but they should not 
be mistaken for industrial training classes. Neither do their pupils 
increase competition in the trade, as might be supposed, for the 
majority are heads of families or women with other occupations who 
are trying to maintain a respectable wardrobe on a scanty income. 
The teachers questioned knew of none who had gone into the trade, 
and but two of the 200 workers visited had had any training in the 
evening schools. Classes in dressmaking in the Young Women's 
Christian Association, churches, and various endowed institutions of 
the city all exist for the same purpose — helping the girl or woman to 
make her own clothes or those of her family. 

The high school of practical arts provides a four years' training, 
but dressmaking classes in such a school turn out few industrial 
workers for the trade. The economic status of pupils in this school 
which enables them to devote four years to secondary education 
enables them to prepare themselves for something better. The four- 
year course excludes the industrial worker, providing leaders and 
teachers of the trade and equipping the girl for something above the 
industrial level. 

Private dressmaking schools, though not numerous, range from 
the small private dressmaker who advertises "Dress cutting taught 
by practical dressmaker for $5; situation furnished," * to the large 
school in the center of the business district advertising "100 women 
and girls wanted at once to learn dressmaking and millinery by the 
famous system." 2 In spite of the promises held forth by some of 
these schools, very few workers were found who had been trained in 
thein. One shopworker was attending an evening class for further 
instruction. Several independent dayworkers had taken a course 
for which they paid $25, but maintained it had not fitted them for 
the shop; that the whole training had been based on a particular 
system which they found used in no shop. Moreover, the cost of 
instruction in private schools must shut out large numbers and con- 
sequently can not supply the needs of the great mass of workers. 

The public school authorities of New York and Massachusetts have 
made a radical diversion within the last decade in assuming the re- 
sponsibility of training girls directly for the trade. The pioneer trade 
school for 14 to 16 year old girls was opened in New York in 1902 
by Mrs. Mary Schenck Woolman, who became convinced that the 
young girls of this age who were leaving the public schools could be 

i Boston Globe, Oct. 30, 1910. 2 Ibid, Mar. 4, 1910. 



152 BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

equipped with the fundamentals which would secure entrance into 
the desirable trades. " Three principles may be laid down with 
regard to the desirability of woman's work," wrote Miss Marshall. 
"First, the occupation must not deaden the natural powers nor 
reduce the individual to the position of a mere machine; second, it 
must develop that kind of efficiency which will be valuable to the 
woman as a home maker; and third, it must not be detrimental 
physically or morally." x 

The needle trades, accepted as fulfilling these requirements, have 
been introduced in all the trade schools for girls, and have necessi- 
tated a new point of view and new methods in education. The trade 
school for girls must face two facts: "(1) that the primary aim of 
the classes was to reach girls who were obliged to go to work young, 
and who could not, therefore, spend much time in training; (2) that 
the classes were to train for trades, hence that workshop conditions 
must be studied and adopted." 2 Investigation showed that a knowl- 
edge of the fundamentals was essential to secure a stable position in 
the shop. The school must lift the girl over the stage of general 
service which is otherwise the only means of entrance for young and 
inexperienced workers and which proves a "blind alley" for many. 
The girl must learn such seemingly elementary yet really difficult 
things as holding a needle properly and easily, handling delicate 
materials without soiling or mussing them, basting, sewing and over- 
casting a seam without puckering it, sewing on hooks and eyes so 
they meet, and using some judgment in the distance at which they 
are placed, for on collars they must be close together and on lingerie 
blouses farther apart; making buttonholes; turning and hemming 
the bottoms of coats and skirts; putting braid on skirts; gathering; 
using the proper sized stitch for different materials and different 
purposes; tacking girdles to waists, or overdresses to the linings; 
tucking by hand and machine, and alterations. 

Ail these processes constitute the work of the young general worker, 
helper, plain sewer or finisher, and are practically the only work 
open to one of limited experience. These, then, are the processes on 
which she must be drilled, for her capacity to do these things well 
determines her ability to maintain her position. But not only must 
she know how to do these things, but in all she must display three 
very important requisites — neatness, accuracy, and speed. 

But when she has met the technical requisites of the trade, there are 
still important lessons to be mastered. She must become accus- 
tomed to the consecutive work of a nine-hour day, so the trade 
school, attempting to provide a stage of transition, maintains a 

1 Industrial Training for Women, by Florence M. Marshall, National Society for the Promotion of Indus- 
trial Education, Bulletin No. 4, p. 17. 

2 Fifth Annual Report of the Boston Trade School for Girls, December, 1909, p. 12. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 153 

working day from 8.30 a. m. to 5 p. m., with one hour at noon. 
Materials are furnished by the school and garments are made for 
sale or on order under the guidance and direction of teachers who 
have worked in the trade, providing as much of the shop conditions 
as is compatible with training. But the trade school wishes to give 
not only the necessities, but some outlook into the future. Miss 
Marshall has estimated that three-fourths of the school time must 
be devoted to meeting the demands of the trade, and in the other 
fourth, the learner must be equipped with some of the fundamentals 
which will insure her success as a future worker. For instance, good 
health is one of her most valuable assets and she must learn how to 
sit properly without humping over as is the natural inclination of 
sewers. She must be taught the necessity of good food and what is 
proper food. She must learn the value and necessity of cleanliness, 
of fresh air, and of exercise, which are most essential for a sedentary 
occupation. One mother when asked: "How has Mary been most 
benefited by the trade school V said, "She takes a bath every morning 
and she walks to work." Moreover, she must be given some of the 
elementary but fundamental principles of "artistic sense," such as 
pleasing combination of color and materials, artistic design, planning 
waists, dresses, trimmings; perhaps also she should have a little 
experience in the more artistic processes of the trade, such as draping 
and trimming, as an impetus and glimpse into the future rather than 
as training for an immediate opening. 

The Boston Trade School for Girls, beginning with a curriculum of 
a few months, has been able to lengthen the course of study to two 
years, at the end of which time the learner is ready for the trade and 
has also reached a suitable age for entering it. The test of any voca- 
tional school is the recognition given by employers and the success 
of the students themselves. The remarkable growth of the Boston 
school during its six years' existence as a private organization, from 
15 or so in the summer of 1904 to almost 200 when in 1909 it was 
taken over under city management, illustrates the attitude of girls 
and parents toward such a school. 1 

The attitude of the trade is also illustrated by an interesting 
advertisement appearing in the Boston Globe on October 8, 1910, 
"Wanted, Sewing girls with Boston Trade School training. Apply 

to ..." Eighty-four graduates, all who had gone out 

from the school up to 1910 as accredited and were still employed 
in the trade, were visited; 34.5 per cent entered the trade with a 
beginning wage of $4, 33 per cent at $5, and 14 per cent at $6. Three- 
fourths were less than 18 years old when they began work. The 
trade-school girl undoubtedly has an immediate financial advantage 

1 The school has continued to grow under public-school management, showing a registration of 594 girls 
during the school year 1913-14. 



154 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

over the girls trained through the trade. While four-fifths of the 
workers visited who had entered as paid apprentices and the same 
proportion of trade-school girls entered under 18 years of age, none 
of the former group as compared with almost one-half the latter had 
a beginning wage exceeding $4. The trade school now aims to place 
girls at not less than $6 a week. 1 

In the shop the young graduate finds herself a member of the great 
"industrial group" described in the chapter on wages (p. 133), which 
represents primarily manual skill and constitutes 55 per cent of the 
great working force. 3 The workroom still has much to teach her. She 
is capable of good workmanship, but she must adapt herself to the 
discipline of the nine-hour working day, and to the routine work, 
the short cuts, and the frequently slip-shod methods of the trade. 
She must realize that economy of time and effort are the watchwords 
of the trade. She must gain appreciation of business methods, and 
of the necessity of strict application and efficiency, and acquire the 
speed demanded in the trade. She must develop initiative and 
ability to see what is to be done and how to do it in case she has 
never done it before. Several employers have reported instances of 
going into the workroom and saying: "I should like some little 
ornament to give this a finishing touch/' or, "Will some one make a 
bow or knot like this one in the picture ?" A young trade-school girl 
has frequently volunteered to try it and succeeded. All these char- 
acteristics the actual shopwork and increasing maturity must develop. 
The trade school provides the foundation, the impetus, and the broad 
general outlook. The shop experience and increasing maturity must 
broaden out her experience and usefulness in the trade. 

As she becomes acquainted she is interested and wishes to know 
how the other workers acquired their trade. Five general methods 
other than her own are discovered: (1) apprenticeship with tuition 
for a few of the older or foreign-born women, (2) unpaid apprentice- 
ship, (3) so-called apprenticeship on a small wage involving errands, 
(4) the errand-girl service solely, and (5) entrance as a regular worker 
having acquired the fundamentals at home. 

About equal proportions entered as paid apprentices on less than 
$5, and as paid workers on $5 or more, these two methods inducting 
into the trade two-thirds of those without trade-school training. 3 
Apprenticeship with tuition plays a very small part as a means of 
entrance because the system has disappeared, and the errand-girl 
service is also an unimportant avenue because few advance through 
this stage to the sewing processes; the majority "don't like it" and 

i See intensive study in forthcoming bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics on Indus- 
trial Efficiency of Girls Trained in Massachusetts Trade Schools. 

2 See Table 47. 

3 Paid apprentices 31 per cent and paid workers 34. S per cent of llti workers visited who had not beeu 
trained at the trade school. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 155 

drop out. A somewhat larger proportion entered through unpaid 
apprenticeship . 

Two present-day illustrations show the character of training and 
variety of results secured under the old apprenticeship system. An 
English woman of 44 years was apprenticed about 30 years ago to a 
private dressmaker in England with a premium of about $97 paid in 
advance. In return she received from her employer room and board, 
the premium money dealt out to her as pocket money in 60-cent bits 
each week, and thorough training in the making of every part of the 
dress. At the end of two years she was a full-fledged "bodice-hand," 
taking the waist from the fitter and finishing it, and after two years 
as bodice-hand she went to London and secured employment as waist 
finisher in various firms in London, earning the equivalent of $4.50 
a week. She later came to America, and has been in Boston several 
years working as finisher in various establishments at a weekly wage 
ranging from $6 to $8. At the age of 44 her opportunities are 
limited mostly to alterations or machine-made clothing establish- 
ments, for she has never advanced beyond the plain-sewer stage. 
Employment agencies tell her they are not able to furnish her work, 
as she is too old, and the young women are preferred. 

An interesting comparative study of possibilities and capacity to 
profit by them is seen in the experience of a Swedish woman, who 
after a year's similar apprenticeship in Sweden, worked a few years 
in her own country and came to America at the age of 20, unable to 
speak the English language. In four years she was earning SIS a 
week, and in eight years $25 a week as fitter in one of the largest 
and most fashionable establishments in Boston. She had then 
worked up a small clientele of her own and determined to go into 
business for herself. With a capital of $350 she opened up a small 
shop, and by the end of the second season, at the age of 30, was doing 
an annual business of $12,000. 

Unpaid apprenticeship, in which the employee pays the employer 
nothing and vice versa, represents the second stage in the appren- 
ticeship system. The period of supposed training is much shorter 
and much less comprehensive than in the original form, and while 
the original apprenticeship presumably taught the whole trade, 
these decadent forms more usually teach a particular process. This 
is shown by the length of time given to the training. More than 
one-half of the 20 workers had a three months' period without pay; 
15 per cent exceeded this, six months, however, being the maximum, 
and the same proportion had a shorter period ranging from two to 
six weeks without pay. The most highly paid worker visited had 
gained her preliminary training through a six months' unpaid ap- 
prenticeship in a large shop. She was apprenticed at the age of 14, 
and after 17 years of varied experience, both as employee and em- 



156 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 



ployer, she was earning $50 a week as head dressmaker over 65 
employees in a large, fashionable establishment. 

So-called apprenticeship on a small weekly wage is the next stage 
of decadence in the apprenticeship system, which often may mean 
a combination of general service and sewing. For since the worker 
is being paid, she is usually expected to earn her wage by numerous 
duties, such as answering the doorbell or telephone, running errands 
down town, and perhaps sweeping, for her services in the sewing are, as 
a whole, of very little value at first unless she has had some training 
and experience. With increasing development and complication of 
the trade, however, even this avenue is gradually closing, and the 
errand-girl stage has become the common, but very limited, opening 
into the trade for the immature worker. But 12 of the 200 girls 
visited had advanced through this avenue, and there is a good deal 
of circumstantial evidence to indicate that, while many enter as 
errand girls, few advance from this stage to the sewing processes. 
Twenty per cent of the 200 visited entered the trade as paid workers 
with a wage of $5 or more, which indicates acquaintance with the 
fundamental principles of sewing, presumably acquired in the home; 
three-fourths of these were 18 years of age or more. The oppor- 
tunity to acquire this experience at home is, however, decreasing 
with the predominance of cheap ready-made wear. 

Table 60.— AGE OF 203 WOMEN AT THE TIME OF ENTERING THE TRADE THROUGH 
FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS. 





Means of entrance. 


Age at entering trade. 


Apprenticeship. 


Er- 
rands. 


Paid 

worker. 


Trade 
school. 


Unclas- 
sified. 




. 


Tui- 
tion. 


Un- 
paid. 


Paid. 


Total. 




2 
1 


1 
8 
4 
5 


1 

13 
15 
3 
2 
2 


1 
6 
4 
1 








5 


14 and under 10 years 


5 
5 
15 
9 
6 


19 

51 

13 

1 


4 


52 


16 and under 18 years 


79 


18 and under 21 years 




37 


21 vears and over 




12 




1 


2 


15 






Total 


4 


20 


36 


12 


40 


84 


4 


200 







While the shop pressed by competition can not waste time on a 
girl who does not adapt herself readily to its needs and demands, 
the trade school can help and develop many a young girl who later 
becomes an efficient worker, and by placing her in the shop as a 
sewer prevents the tremendous waste of the present haphazard 
methods. 

Once established in the trade "it all depends on the girl," employ- 
ers maintain, but her previous training and the conditions within 
her particular shop are also determining factors. A young girl of 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



157 



17 who attended the trade school for a year was placed in one of the 
largest shops in Boston at a beginning wage of $6 and in less than a 
year was in charge of linings at $8 with four women working under 
her. Almost one-half those earning $8 and $9 had reached the $8 
wage in less than four years and three-fourths in less than six years. 
The $9 wage expresses more maturity and experience, the majority 
having had five or more years' experience, though about one-fourth 
reached this stage between three and four years. On the other hand 
old women who have spent all their life in the trade earn $7 and $8. 
However, almost one-half of the 64 women visited who were within 
the "industrial group," and earning from $7 to $9, had reached the 
$7 wage in less than three years and two-thirds in less than four 
years. 



Table 61.— LENGTH OF TIME REQUIRED TO REACH THE $7, $8, 
WORKERS IN THE INDUSTRIAL GROUP. 



AND $9 WAGE BY 64 





Number earning specified wage in time specified. 


W T eekIy wage. 


Under 1 

year. 


1 year 
and un- 
der 2 


2 years 
and un- 
der 3 


3 years 
and un- 
der 4 


4 years 
and un- 
der 5 


5 years 
and un- 
der 6 


6 years 
and un- 
classified. 


Total. 


87 


7 10 
6 5 


12 
2 


12 
6 
1 


8 

10 
5 


2 
2 

7 


13 
10 
9 


64 


88... 


41 


89 


22 











After working several years the young helper or finisher is very 
likely to come down to the shop some morning and find her employer 
in despair, for several waists and gowns must be sent home that day 
and the head sleeve girl or the waist draper is sick in bed. The 
young girl volunteers to solve the problem. "I did waist draping in 
the trade school several weeks" or "I've often watched the waist 
draper do it" and her employer under necessity dubiously consents. 
The young girl glowing with enthusiasm and puffed with pride does 
her very best and, with occasional help when in doubt, has her share 
of the work completed at the appointed time. The next time the 
head girl is ill, or if she leaves to be married, or to go to some other 
shop, the young helper naturally slips into her place. This is a 
transition stage between the purely industrial w 7 ork involving manual 
skill on which the $5 to $9 workers are employed, and the highly 
skilled artistic and administrative occupations of the women earning 
$15 and over. 

Into this $10 to $14 wage group our young protege has advanced 
after some years' experience. In this stage are the makers who put 
together the parts of the waists, skirts, and sleeves, perhaps some 
cutters in the small shops, the majority of the drapers, some of the 
high-class finishers, who also combine "making" with finishing, and 
a few expert machine operators. A trade-school girl who went to 



158 BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 

work at the age of 17 with a "beginning wage of $5 had in .three years 
become a waist draper in a large fashionable shop, earning $10 a week. 
A young colored girl who attended the trade school seven months 
began work at the age of 16 on $4 a week and in four years was 
earning $12 as a sleeve draper. Two young sisters who attended 
the trade school seven and nine months respectively began work at 
$4 and at $6 and in four years were each earning $11. Two-thirds 
of the 22 women within this group personally visited had not reached 
this semiprofessional stage before six years and the majority re- 
quired a longer period. 

It is just about this time, after several years' experience, that the 
girl begins to aspire to something better. At this stage the majority 
are about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age. Their parents 
now begin to expect them to be independent, and they feel they have 
been in the shop long enough to have some share in the creative work 
which is so much more interesting and profitable. If now they could 
have opportunity to study the principles of art and design, planning, 
cutting, artistic combination of materials, trimmings, and colors, they 
would appreciate and profit by the training. Their increased ma- 
turity and experience would enable them, if properly equipped, to 
meet a part of the demand for the higher class of workers. The col- 
ored girl had never abandoned her outside studying of allied subject^, 
such as art and design, so she was able when the sleeve draper mar- 
ried to take her place on a wage of $12 with only four years' shop 
experience. The artistic and administrative positions paying $15 and 
more are for the most part held by comparatively young women 
ranging from 25 to 40 years of age. After that they usually go out 
by the day, do business in their own home, or open a shop. A great 
many women do not rise above the industrial stage in the trade be- 
cause of lack of artistic and creative ability. Some who have latent 
ability might with proper stimulus and impetus develop those quali- 
fications requisite for advancement. Systematic and well organized 
evening classes offering such training in close cooperation with the 
needs and demands of the trade would undoubtedly lift many over 
the obstacles encountered in the shop. The capable girl will sur- 
mount them, but the timid and less resourceful will often allow them 
to conquer her. 

So a coordination of technical training and of trade experience is 
essential. The preliminary training and experience acquired in the 
trade school shorten the period of acquisition in the shop, and, also, 
inducts into the trade many who could not surmount the initial 
obstacles in the trade, such as speed requirements and knowledge of 
the fundamental and elementary processes. In the trade school, 
however, the training and development of the young worker is 
paramount. The interests of the pupil and teacher are identical; 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 159 

namely, as rapid advancement as the young girl is capable of making. 
When the pupil has acquired sufficient skill in one process, she is ad- 
vanced to the next. In the shop, just the contrary is true. Commer- 
cial profits are paramount, so that the interests of employer and worker 
may be by ho means always the same. It is, therefore, not surprising 
if, when rushed with work and under obligation to turn out completed 
gowns without a flaw, the employer keeps her young employees on 
those processes which they have learned to do well, and the em- 
ployees' point of view is quite as natural though shortsighted. When 
they have mastered one process, the weekly wage they earn at it is 
frequently more attractive than the prospect of a long period of 
training with remote possibility of large remuneration. 

The chief emphasis of a preliminary trade school must be put upon 
the actual processes open to the young girl. After several years in 
the shop, she has acquired sufficient maturity and understanding of 
the trade to be ready for further advancement. Here, again, many 
who may not be able to advance on their own initiative to higher 
positions involving artistic ability and greater technical skill, or to 
go out by the day as general dressmaker could be assisted in bridging 
the gap through carefully planned and coordinated evening courses 
in cutting, fitting and draping. Openings and opportunities are con- 
tinually appearing in the shop for the woman who is able to grasp 
them. Courses of training in the advanced processes of the trade 
have a vital interest and a real significance now for she can put into 
execution the principles acquired in the class room. 

The large opportunity for the home dressmaker in Massachusetts 
would seem to justify such courses, and the difficulty of securing 
capable workers for even the limited number of openings in the shop 
involving advanced technical skill and artistic ability shows the need 
of increased opportunities for acquiring such skill. 



SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK. 

The conditions of women's work in the dressmaking trade show 
some phases where improvement is desirable and possible, but com- 
parison with other women-employing industries shows that it never- 
theless has some decided advantages. The development of wholesale 
manufacture has made serious inroads into the field, but the result has 
been new adjustments rather than annihilation, for contemporary 
with the development of the ready-made clothing industry has 
grown, on the one side, the large custom shop which caters to the 
numerous class of women demanding exclusive product with indi- 
viduality and fine handwork. On the other side are the dayworkers, 
who go from house to house fulfilling these same demands for those 
who can not pay the prices charged by the large shops. Dress- 
making has occupied the largest place in the curriculum of the 
Massachusetts trade schools, and for this trade the large majority of 
pupils have been trained, but directors of vocational education and 
guidance must recognize several fundamental facts: First — They 
must know their neighborhood and the demand from the standpoint 
of numbers employed, numbers required, types of shops, and methods 
of work in the shops to which they cater. Second — The custom 
dressmaking trade is not a child-employing industry, only one-third 
of 1 per cent of the working force being under 16 years of age. 
Third — Since the field of custom dressmaking has become confined 
principally to a fine product involving skill and artistic ability, the 
opportunity for entrance is extremely limited, and we have the 
anomaly of a trade demanding increasing skill and artistic sense and 
providing decreasing opportunity for its workers to acquire the 
requisite qualifications. The labor problem, therefore, is at present 
one of the great difficulties of the trade, both for the employer, be- 
cause she can not secure the requisite skilled labor, and for the 
worker, because she has small opportunity to equip herself to meet 
the demands of the trade. 

Since neither home nor shop provides the girl with the requisite 
elementary principles of the trade, trade schools for girls have been 
inaugurated in several cities. 1 The young girl who has been well 
grounded in the elementary principles is lifted over the gap between 
the home or the school on the one side and the shop on the other 

1 Boston, Worcester, Some-rville, Cambridge, and other cities. 
29S85°— Bull. 193—16 11 161 



162 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 

and enters as a sewer. It is increasingly the large shop into which 
the young worker must be inducted, since the small and medium- 
sized shops are being crushed out under the competition of the whole- 
sale factory, the large custom shop, and the dayworker, but the 
degree of evolution varies in different localities and must be studied as 
a local problem. Generally speaking, in the future the young worker 
will be subjected in an increasing degree to the conditions of the large 
shop, the most important of which is the division of labor. The tend- 
ency of the shop is to make her a specialized worker. The majority 
of workers will, after some years' experience, need some new impetus 
and some additional help in acquiring training and experience in the 
more skilled processes which will enable them either to advance to 
the higher positions in the shop or to go out by the day as general 
workers. The public-school system is just beginning to work out the 
method of providing this additional aid for the older girl. 

Fourth — There is the problem of the girl who must go to work as 
soon as the law allows and the unskilled industries with wide-open 
doors and small demand for ability receive the majority. A few 
may find their way out and drift into something offering more oppor- 
tunity for development. But everything is against them. Two or 
three years in unskilled monotonous work, probably accompanied 
by drifting from factory to factory, does not afford opportunity nor 
leave time to secure training for something better. Nor have these 
workers any way of knowing of anything which is better, what are 
the demands and conditions of work, or how or where to equip them- 
selves. Both social and educational agencies are necessary to pro- 
vide the impetus, information, and training for those young people 
handicapped by economic necessity. 

The dressmaking trade provides better working conditions and 
more opportunities for advancement than are found in most of the 
other large women-employing industries, for the trade is still pri- 
marily monopolized by women, so that the young workers work with 
women, for women, and do not have "to face the competition of men. 
The social content of the working force is distinctly above the indus- 
trial level, including a larger proportion of women of more than ordi- 
nary education. Moreover, the work itself has certain advantages. 
The worker handles pretty, dainty things, gains a knowledge of what 
constitutes good taste in dress, acquires an ability to make her own 
clothes, and secures in her trade an accomplishment which can always 
be put to remunerative uses. The nine-hour working day is in some 
shops frequently and in some never exceeded. In general, the large 
fashionable shops whose orders all culminate within a very short 
period and demand immediate execution are the greatest offenders. 

While the wages may not meet the standard to be desired, com- 
parison with other industries shows them in a favorable light. Forty- 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 163 

nine per cent of the custom and 36 per cent of the factory workers, 
16 years of age and over, studied on pay rolls, received $9 or more; 
66.9 per cent of the custom and 52.9 per cent of the factory workers 
received $8 or more. Few industries show a larger proportion of 
women in these wage groups. Moreover, the high wage available to 
the woman with artistic sense and creative ability makes custom 
dressmaking unique among the large women-employing industries. 

Two factors, however, reduce the nominal income, short absences 
and seasonal fluctuation. Short absences cause an average loss of 10 
per cent of the nominal income of custom workers and 14 per cent of 
that of women in factory dressmaking. Slack season still further 
reduces the income. The loss through this cause can not possibly 
be estimated accurately for the drifters since the only source of infor- 
mation — the individual workers' memory — is too unreliable, but a 
suggestive estimate can be made for the steady workers with the 
probability that it is higher than that of the less regular workers. 
But 23 per cent (125) of the 545 women, 16 years and over, employed 
in custom shops and 14.2 per cent (71) of the 500 employed in factory 
dressmaking during the trade year, September, 1910, to September, 
1911, worked 40 weeks or more in a single shop. Of the 125 custom 
workers 65.6 per cent and of the 71 factory workers 71.8 percent 
earned less than $450. The shrinkage of total income from these 
causes is not peculiar to the dressmaking trade. 

If then they can earn a higher income hi a shorter period they have 
opportunity to fill in if necessary with other occupations, or, if not 
necessary, to rest. Since, however, a large proportion of the steady 
workers in the dressmaking trade earn less than the estimated living 
income during their trade year, even less can the drifters and irregular 
workers, so a large part of those earning from $7 to $15 must resort 
to secondary occupations. While the woman who sews has a trade 
which she can utilize outside the shop, many, because of immaturity, 
lack of skill, or desire for change, resort to other occupations to piece 
out their income. 

A survey of the trade yields suggestions to the educator, placement 
agencies, parent, and prospective worker, to those interested in pro- 
moting industrial welfare, and to the customer. 

For the educator — 

1. An ultimate knowledge of and acquaintance with the shops 
and methods of production, and demand for young workers in the 
particular neighborhood is essential if the pupil is to be adequately 
trained to meet the demands. A knowledge of the status and trend 
of the trade in the locality must underlie all industrial education. 

2. A system of preliminary training must be devised for the 14 to 16 
year old girl, who may through adequate and practical training be put 
into the shop as a sewer. 



164 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

3. A part-time course of training might well be developed for the 
young 14 to 16 year old girls who must go to work as soon as the law 
allows, but who, according to the law passed in Massachusetts in 1913, 
must attend continuation schools as soon as they can be provided, 
thus providing opportunity for them to lift themselves out of their 
unskilled employment. 

4. A systematic advanced course in the skilled processes of the 
trade should be provided in technical evening classes that the young 
worker after several years' experience in the shop may equip herself 
either for the higher shop positions or for independent work. 

For the placement agency also — 

1. An intimate knowledge of the particular dressmaking shops of 
the neighborhood is essential, that the adviser may know the requisite 
qualifications of the workers as to age, degree of skill, and persona 
characteristics. 

2. Equally essential is a knowledge of the seasons of demand, not 
only in the different types of dressmaking shops, but in all other 
industries of the neighborhood, that the worker may be directed into 
other employment during the dull season of her particular shop. 

3. The placement agency can do an important service in advising 
the parent and prospective young worker of conditions in the trade, 
difficulties to surmount, time necessary to secure a living wage, and 
demands and requisite qualifications. 

4. The placement agency and vocational educators should be in 
closest touch, the experience and knowledge acquired by each being 
contributed for the advantage of the other. Some standard test 
should be evolved by which the capacity of the prospective worker 
could be determined, so that the facts of the case may be set clearly 
before her or her parent, and advice given as to whether or not to 
continue in the trade. The experience and knowledge acquired by 
placement agents in their contact with worker and employer should 
react on the curriculum of the school and the training of the child, 
enabling the school continually to readjust the curriculum and to 
direct those unfitted or incompetent for this occupation into some- 
thing within their reach. Many misfits, much discouragement, and 
much loss of time and earnings might be avoided. Such an agency 
for wise direction and good advice is one of the crying needs of the 
time. 

The social worker has a great opportunity for valuable service in 
cooperation with the school and the placement agency. Intimate 
acquaintance with the families of a particular neighborhood gives 
weight to her suggestions for further schooling or specialized training; 
she can moreover inspire the worker to look forward to something 
better, and give encouragement to further preparation or improve- 
ment. This personal relation between social worker and the family 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 165 

and child has been utilized to great advantage in the juvenile ad- 
visory committees and care committees associated with the juvenile 
exchanges recently established in England. 

The customer has such an important influence in determining the 
working conditions in a custom trade that the mere knowledge of the 
far-reaching effects of her though tfuln ess or negligence ought to be 
sufficient to better conditions. The customer can do much toward 
steadying and lengthening the working season by forethought and 
cooperation with the dressmaker. Late orders and demands for 
completion within unreasonably short time mean overtime work for 
some of the employees, with its consequent physical strain, a late and 
lonely walk home after dark, and an excuse for young workers 
being on the streets at night. Delay and negligence in paying the 
bills may mean not only great inconvenience to the employer but 
delay in the pay of her girls, with the resultant evils of indebtedness 
and disputes, and sometimes loss of pay due. 

Custom dressmaking, which best meets the approval of the fastidious 
woman, provides better working conditions on the whole and better 
opportunity for the worker than the factory branch of the trade, and 
in this branch the customer has the greatest opportunity and influ- 
ence in determining conditions under which the employees work. 

From the general public interested in industrial welfare should 
come the demand for reasonable and comprehensive legislation and 
its adequate enforcement. One of the first requests should be for 
simple and unqualified limitation of hours of work. The exemption 
clause allowing overtime u where the employment is by seasons" 
makes enforcement of the law impossible and sanctions and legalizes 
overstrain and pressure in a trade already characterized by these 
unfortunate conditions. 

The dressmaking trade, most prone and liable to overtime because 
of the absence of a steadying agency between demand and supply, 
should be especially the care of the inspection force. Since the large 
shops employ about three-fourths the workers and are the most 
liable to pressure from their patrons, the problem is not really so 
difficult as might seem at first glance, though the small shop should 
not be overlooked on this account. 



LIST OF BOOKS, RECORDS, AND PERIODICALS DEALING WITH WOMEN 
IN THE CLOTHING TRADE. 

UNITED STATES. 

I. Special studies in the clothing trade. 

Eaton, Isabel. Receipts and Expenditures of Certain Wage Earners in the 
Garment Trades. (Publication of the American Statistical Association, 
IV, 1894-95, No. 30.) (Low-skilled branches of the clothing trade in New 
York and Chicago.) 

Henry Phipps Institute Report. Factors Affecting the Health of Garment 
Makers. (Philadelphia, 1915.) 

Pope, Jesse. The Clothing Industry in New York. (Xew York, 1905.) (Out- 
side ready-made garments for men, women, and children.) 

Willett, Mabel Hurd. Employment of Women in the Clothing Trade. 
(Columbia University Studies, 1902.) (Principally men's clothing trade 
in New York.) 

II. General studies on women in industry. 

Abbott, Edith. Women in Industry. (New York, 1910.) (Ch. X. Cursory 

survey of the evolution of the manufacture of ready-made clothing.) 
Adams, T. S., and Sumner, Helen. Labor Problems. (New York, 1907.) 

(Chs. I and II. Woman and child labor. III. Sweating system.) 
Bosworth, Louise M. The Living Wage of Women Workers. (Publication of 

the Department of Research. Women's Educational and Industrial Union.) 

(Boston, 1911.) 
Butler, Elizabeth. Women and the Trades. (New York, 1911.) (Chapters 

on "Needle trades'' deal with men's clothing, gloves, and millinery, i 
Campbell, Helen. Women Wage Earners. (Boston, 1893.) 
Goldmark, Josephine. Fatigue and Efficiency. (New York, 1912.) 
Kelley, Mrs. Florence. Some Ethical Gains through Legislation. (New 

York, 1905.) (Chs. Ill and VII. References to conditions in the clothing 

trade.) 
MacLean, Annie Marion. Wage-earning Women. (Xew York, 1910.) (Chs. 

Ill, IV, and V. References to machine-made-clothing trades.) 
Penny, Virginia. The Employments of Women. A Cyclopedia of Woman's 

Work. (Boston, 1863.) 

III. Studies from the vocational standpoint. 

Annual Reports of the Boston and Manhattan Trade Schools for Girls. 

Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. Finding Employment for Children 
who Leave the Grade Schools to go to Work. (Chicago, 1911.) (Sections on 
dressmaking.) 

Girls' Trade Education League bulletins. No. 5. Dressmaking. No. 6. Mil- 
linery. No. 11. Clothing. Machine Operating. (Boston, 1911 and 1912). 

Marshall, Florence M. Industrial Training for Women. Bulletin Xo. 4 of 
National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. 

Richards, Charles R. Industrial training. A report on conditions in New York 

State in the Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the New York Bureau of Labor 

Statistics, 1908, Pt. I. 

167 



168 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

III. Studies from the vocational standpoint — Concluded. 

Talbert, Earnest L. Opportunities in School and Industry for Children of the 
Stockyards District. (University of Chicago, 1912.) 

United States Bureau of Education. A Trade School for Girls: A Preliminary 
Investigation in a Typical Manufacturing City, Worcester, Mass. Bulletin 
No. 17, 1913. 

United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Conciliation, Arbitration, and Sani- 
tation in the Dress and Waist Industry of New York City. Bulletin No. 145, 
1914. 

— • Vocational education survey of Richmond, Va. Bulletin No. 1G2, 1915. 

Vocational education survey of Minneapolis, Minn. Bulletin No. 199, 

1916. 

IV. Government publications. 

1. United States Government reports. 

United States Census, 1860. Manufactures, Ixii. Account of the Cloth- 
ing Industry. (Historical development.) 

United States Census, 1900. Manufactures, Pt. Ill, pp. 261-302; 
General discussion, pp. 261-296; Historical and descriptive — Men's 
clothing, pp. 296-300; Women's clothing, pp. 300-302. 

Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wages and Regularity of Employment in 
the Dress and Waist Industry of New York City. Bulletin No. 146, 
1914. 

Wages and Regularity of Employment in the Cloak, Suit, and 

Skirt Industry. Bulletin No. 147, 1914. 

Regularity of Employment in the Women's Ready-to-wear 



Garment Industry. Bulletin No. 183, 1916. 

Report on the Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in 



the United States. II. Men's Ready-made Clothing, 1911. IX. 
History of Women in Industry in the United States, 1910, Ch. III. 
United States Public Health Service. The Health of Garment Workers. 
Bulletin No. 71, 1915. 
2. State government reports. 
Massachusetts. 

Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 

1884. Wright, Carroll D. The Working Girls of Boston. 
Minimum Wage Commission. Wages of Women in Women's Cloth- 
ing Factories in Massachusetts. Bulletin No. 9, 1915. 
Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1875. (Em- 
ployment of Women at Sewing Machine Labor.) 
New York. 

New York Department of Labor. Report on the Growth of Industry 

in New York, 1902. (The clothing industry in New York, p. 88.) 

Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor, 1885. Pt. I. Working 

women; their trades, wages, homes, and social conditions. 
Twentieth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor, 1902. Wages in 
the clothing trade, pp. 1-28. Earnings in home industries, pp. 
37-289. (Men 'sand women's clothing and muslin and infants' wear.) 
New York State Factory Investigating Commission Report. Wages 
in the Millinery Trade. 1914. 
V. Recent periodical literature (only a few typical articles of the large popular 
literature on the clothing trade are suggested). 
Barrows, Alice P. Women at Work in Millinery Shops in New York City. 
(Preliminary report — The training of millinery workers.) Proceedings of 
Academy of Political Science. October, 1910. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TEADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 169 

V. Recent periodical literature — Concluded. 

Clarke, Sue Ainslee, and Wyatt, Edith. Working girls' budgets. McClure'a 
Magazine, October, November, 1910. ('" Based on information obtained 
through an investigation conducted by the National Consumers' League.") 
November. The shirt-waist makers and their strike. 

Goodman, Pearl, and Ueland, Elsa. The shirt-waist trade. Journal of Political 
Economy, December, 1910, Vol. XVIII, p. 816. 

Hutchinson, Dr. Woods. The hygienic aspects of the shirt-waist strike. Sur- 
vey, January 22, 1910, Vol. XXIII, p. 541. 

Odencrantz, Louise. The irregularity of employment of women factory work- 
ers. Survey, Vol. XX [1909], p. 196. 

Schwab, Sidney I. Neurasthenia among garment workers. American Labor 
Legislation Review, January, 1911, Vol. I, No. 1, p. 27. 

Shirt-waist shops after the strike. Survey, October 1, 1910, Vol. XXV, p. 7. 

Sumner, Mary Brown. Settlement of the cloak-makers' strike. Survey, Sep- 
tember 17, 1910, Vol. XXIV, p. 847. (Protocol of September, 1910, in full.) 

Van Kleeck, Mary. Women and children who make men's clothes. Survey, 
April 1, 1911, Vol. XXVI, p. 65. 

Van Kleeck, Mary, and Barrows, Alice P. How girls learn the millinery trade. 
Survey, April 16, 1910, Vol. XXIV, p. 105. 

VI. Source of material covered in Chapter I in a study of the evolution of the trade 

in the United States. 
1. Newspapers. 

Massachusetts — 
Boston. 

American Apollo, 1792-1794. 

American Herald, December 8, 1781, October 8, 1789. 

American Traveler, July 1, 1834, June 30, 1835, January 3- 

March 24, 1840. 
Boston Chronicle, 1767-1770. 
Boston Commercial Gazette, 1796-1799. 
Boston Daily Advertiser, 1813. 
Boston Exchange Advertiser, 1785. 
Boston Evening Post, 1736-1742 (scattering numbers preserved 

in Boston Public Library), also 1743-1775. 
Boston Gazette or Country Journal, 1755-1757, 1766, 1773-1776, 

1797-1798. 
Boston Gazette or Weekly Journal, July 23, 1722, September 

25, 1744, also July 16 and August 20, 1745. 
Boston Globe, 1910 and 1911. 
Boston Mirror, 1808-1810. 
Boston News Letter, 1719-1764. 
Boston Weekly Post Boy, 1742, 1740-1754. 

Bunker Hill Aurora and Boston Mirror, January 17, 1829, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1858, 1864, 1865. 
Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser, 1779-17S1. 
Evening Gazette, 1827, 1828. 
Essex Journal and Merrimac Packet and The Massachusetts and 

New Hampshire General Advertiser, April 27, 1774. 
Independent Advertiser, March, 1748-August, 1749. 
Independent Chronicle, 1769-1792, 1800-1802, 1805, 1800. 
Massachusetts Centinel, 1785. 
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News Letter, 1713- 

1776 (except for missing numbers, in Boston Public Library). 



170 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

VI. Source of material covered in Chapter I in a study of the evolution of the trade 
in the United States— Continued. 
1. Newspapers— Concluded. 

Massachusetts — Concluded. 
Boston — Concluded. 

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post Boy and Advertiser, 

1754, 1757-1775, May 23, 1768-September 21, 1769. 
New England Courant, February 4, 1723. 
New England Weekly Journal, 1728-1734. 

Weekly Rehearsal, June 26, 1732, February 5, 1733, and Feb- 
ruary 28, 1731. 
Essex.— Essex Gazette, 1770. 

Greenfield. — Greenfield Gazette, October 11, 1792. 
Hampden. — Hampden Federalist, November 16, 1815. 
Norfolk.— Norfolk Repository, 1805-1S0S. 

Northampton. — Hampshire Gazette, October 3, 1787; May 21, 
August 6, 27, September 3, 10, 1788; May 13, October 14, Decem- 
ber 30, 1789; November 24, July 7, 28, 1790; November, 1815, 
1816, 1823, 1828-1830. 
Salem.— Salem Gazette and Newbury and Marblehead Advertiser, 

1774 (6 numbers), 1781-1785, 1790 (1 number), 1795. 
Springfield.— Hampshire Federalist, 1808-1810. 
Worcester. — National Aegis. December 2, 1801. 

Monthly. — The Lady's Magazine, conducted by Mrs. Sarah J. 
Hale, 1827, Boston. 
Connecticut — 
Hartford. 

American Mercury, 1784, 17S5, 17S8, 17S9, 1791-1795, 1813. 
Connecticut Courant, 1764, 1776-1781, 1782, 1785, 1788-1792, 
1793, 1794, 1795, 1796-1809. 
New Haven. — New Haven Gazette and Connecticut Magazine, 

1786, 1787 (1 number each), 1788 (a few numbers). 
Norwich. — Norwich Packet, 1776, 1784, 1785, 1798 (incomplete set). 
New Hampshire. — New Hampshire Patriot, 1809-1811. 
Rhode Island. — Newport Mercury, June 23, 1761; April 26, 1773; August 

7, September 25, 1775. 
Maryland. — Maryland Journal and Baltimore Adventurer, 1779, 1787, 

1789-1792. 
New York. — New York Gazette, or Weekly Post Boy, 1740-1751, 

1753, 1754, 1756-1759, 1765, 1766 (incomplete tiles). 
Pennsylvania — 
Philadelphia. 

American Weekly Mercury, December, 1719-January, 1723. 
Federal Gazette and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser, 1791-1793 

(broken files from Library of Congress). 
Freeman's Journal, or the North American Intelligencer, 

1781, 17S2 (scattering numbers). 
Pennsylvania Gazette, 1734-1838 (broken files in Library of 

Congress). 
Pennsylvania Journal and the Weekly Advertiser 1752-1792 

(scattering numbers). 
Philadelphia Mercantile Advertiser, 1809,1810. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. 171 

VI. Source of material covered in Chapter I in a study of the evolution of the trade 
in the United States — Continued. 
2. Books, records, and documents. 

American State Papers, Finance. Washington, 17S9-182S. 
Bliss, William R. Colonial Times on Buzzard's Bay. Boston, 1900. 
Carey, Matthew. (Letter to the editor of the New York Daily Sentinel 
on remuneration of female labor.) Philadelphia, 1830. 

Female Wages and Female Oppression. Philadelphia, 1830. 

— Miscellaneous Essays. Philadelphia, 1830. 

Connecticut, Public records of the Colony of Connecticut. Hartford, 
1852. 

Coxe, Tench. A View of the United States of America (1787-1794). 
Philadelphia, 1794. 

Documentary History of American Industrial Society, I and II. 1910. 

Documents Relative to the Manufactures in the United States. H. Doc. 
308, 22d Cong. 1st sess., Parts 1, 2. 1831, 1S32. 

Fernow, B. (editor). The records of New Amsterdam (1653-1674). 
New York, 1897. 

Fithian, Philip Vickers. Journal and letters, 1764-1774. Princeton 
Historical Association, Princeton, 1900. 

Goodwin, Maud W. Historic New York. Half Moon Papers. 1899. 

Grant, Mrs. Anne. Memoirs of an American Lady, with Sketches of 
Manners and Scenery in America as they Existed Previous to the 
Revolution. New York, 180!). 

Hammond, John. Leah and Rachel. London, 1656. 

Harrower, John. Diary of. Virginia, 1773-1776 (American Historical 
Review, VI). 

Hull, John. Diary of Public Occurrences. Transactions and collec- 
tions of the American Antiquarian Society, III. Worcester. 

Industry and Frugality Proposed as the Surest Means to Make us a Rich 
and Flourishing People. Boston, 1753. 

Johnston, James, F. W. Notes on North America, Agricultural, 
Economic, and Social. Edinburgh and London, 1857. 

Kemble, Frances Anne. Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Planta- 
tion. 1838-1839. New York, 1863. 

Larcom, Lucy. A New England Girlhood. Boston, 1889. 

Life, Letters, and Diary (Addison, Daniel D., editor). Boston, 

1895. 

Marshall, Christopher. Extracts from the Diary of (1774-1781. Duane, 

William, editor). Alban} r , 1877. 
Martineau, Harriet. Society in America (1834-1836). London, 1837. 
Massachusetts Bay Company Records. (1628-1641.) Cambridge, 1850. 
Massachusetts Historical Society publications. 1798-1835. 
Nov,- York Historical Society Collections. 1885. 
Olmstead, Frederick Law. A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, in 

the Years 1853, 1854. New York, London, 1904. 
Pryor, Mis. Roger A. Remhiiscences of Peace and War. New York, 

1905. 
Russell, William Howard. My Diary, North and South. Boston, 

1863. 
Smyth, J. F. D. A Tour in the United States of America. London, 

1784. 
Thomas, Gabriel. An Account of Pennsylvania and West New Jersey. 

(Reprinted from the original edition of 1630.) Cleveland, 1903. 



172 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

VI. Source of material covered in Chapter I in a study of the evolution of the trade 
in the United States — Concluded. 
2. Books, records, and documents — Concluded. 

Trollope, Mrs. Domestic Manners of the Americans. Fourth edition. 

London, New York, 1832. 
Tuckerman, Joseph. Essay on the Wages Paid to Females for their 

Labor. Philadelphia, 1830. 
Wansey, Henry. Journal of an Excursion to the United States. Salis- 
bury and London, 1798. 
Ward, Nathaniel. A Simple Cobbler of Aggawam in America. London 

1647. 
Winthrop's Journal, '"History of New England," 1630-1649. New 

York, 1908. 
Working Women's Protective Union, Annual reports of. New York, 

1864 et seq. 
Not Contemporary. 

Bishop, John L. History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860. 

Philadelphia and London, 1866. 
Bowne, Mrs. E. C. A Girl's Life Eighty Years Ago. New York, 1888. 
Earle, Alice Morse. Two Centuries of Costume in America. New 

York, 1903. 

Colonial Dames and Goodwives. Boston, 1895. 

Temple, J. II., and Sheldon, G. History of Northfield. Albany, 1875. 
Weeden, W. B. Economic and Social History of New England, 1620- 

1789. Boston and New York, 1890. 

EUROPE. 

Great Britain. 

I. Government publications. 

Home Department. Annual Reports of the Chief Inspector of Factories and 

Workshops. 
Board of Trade, Labor Department. Collet, Clara E. Report on the Statistics 

of the Employment of Women and Girls. London, 1894. 
British Sessional Papers. Factory and Workshop Commission. 
Royal Commission on Labor — 

The Employment of Women. Reports by Miss Eliza Orme, Miss Clara 

Collet, Miss May Abraham, and Miss Margaret Irwin. 1893 and 1894. 
Oakeshott, Mrs. G. M. Women's Trades. Report of the Education Com- 
mittee of the London County Council. 1908. 
Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 

II. Women's Industrial Council publications. 

Clothing and Textile Trades. Summary tables by L. W. Papworth and D. M. 

Zimmern. London, 1912. 
Home Industries of Women in London. 1908. 

MacDonald, M. E. Working Women in Stuttgart. September, 1900. 
Report of the National Conference on the Unemployment of Women Dependent 

on their Own Earnings. December, 1907. 
Seasons Trades Conferences. March, 1901. 
Trade School for Girls, January, 1911. 
Treub-Cornaz, Mme. Women and the clothing industry in New Amsterdam. 

Women's Industrial News, September and December, 1901. 

III. Published reports of investigations. 

Cadbury, E., Matheson, M. C, and Shann, G. Women's Work and Wages. 

(Chicago, edited 1907.) 
Meyer, Mrs. Carl, and Black, Clemintina. Makers of our Clothes: A Case for 

Trade Boards. London, 1909. 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN IX MASSACHUSETTS. -173 

III. Published reports of investigations — Concluded. 

Adler, N., and Tawney, R. II. Boy and Girl Labor. London, 1909. 

Webb, Sydney and Beatrice. The Prevention of Destitution. London, 1911. 

Seasonal Trades. London, 1912. 

Scotland. 

Irwin, Margaret. Home Work amongst Women. II. Minor Miscellaneous 

Trades. Report of an Inquiry Conducted for the Glasgow Council for Women 's 

Trades. Glasgow, 1900. 
The Problem of Home Work, with a preface by Professor George Adam 

Smith. Glasgow, 1907. 
Women 's Work in Tailoring and Dressmaking. Glasgow, 1900. Report 

of an Inquiry Conducted for the Scottish Council for Women's Trades. 

IV. Publications relative to vocational guidance (Great Britain). 

Fingerpost, The. A Guide to the Professions and Occupations of Educated 

Women. Third edition. London, 1909. 
Occupations for Girls in Glasgow. Published by the Scottish Council for 

Women's Trades. Women's Industrial News. December, 1905. 
.Trades for London Girls and How to Enter Them. Compiled by the Appren- 

i i<eship and Skilled Employment Association. London and New York, 1909. 

France". 

I. Government publications. 

Office du Travail. Enquete sur le travail a domicile dans l'industrie de la 

lingerie. Paris, 1907-1909. 
— — ■ — Les associations professionnelles ouvrieres. Paris, 1899-1904. 
Legard, M. (Inspecteur Divisionnaire de la 10 e circonscription a Marseille). 
- Reports by District Inspectors (of France) upon the Question of Nightwork. 

Paris, 1900. Investigation into Dressmaking Establishments in Marseille. 
Office du Travail. La Petite Industrie. Vol. II. Le Vetemcnt a Paris. 1896. 

II. Reports of International Bodies. 

Bauer, E. Le travail de unit des femmes dans l'industrie. Rapports publies 
au nom de 1' Association international e pour la protection legale des travail - 
leurs. 1903. 

Storch, Leon. Rapport du Jury international de 1 'Exposition universelle in- 
ternationale de 1900 a Paris. Paris, 1902. 

III. Special treatises. 

Aftalion, Albert. Le developpement de la fabrique et le travail a domicile 
dans les industries de l'habillement (1906); also published in Revue 
d'economie politique, October, November, December, 1905. Vols. XIX. XX. 

Benoist, Charles. Les ouvrieres de l'aiguille a Paris. Paris, 1895. 

Debect. L'habillement-femme en France au point de vue industriel et 
commercial. 1908. 

Doublot, Camille. La protection legale des travailleurs de l'industrie du 
vetement. Paris, 1899. 

du Lac, Stanislaus. Le fil et l'aiguille. Paris. 

Seilhac, L6on de. L'industrie de la couture et de la confection a Paris. Paris. 

Worth, Gaston. La couture et la confection des vetements de femme. 1895. 

IV. Periodical literature. 

Revue d'economie politique — 

Alfassa, Georges. Le travail de nuit des femmes, au Congres de Cologne, 

1903. Vol. XVII, p. 637. (Discussion of seasonal trades in general.) 
Schweidland, Eugen. Comment il est possible d'organiser les ouvrieres 
en chambre. 1902. Vol. XVI, p. 659. 
Reforme social e — 

Aine. Les patronnes, employees et ouvrieres de l'habillement a Paris; 
leur situation morale et materielle, Vol. V, p. 61. January 1, 1898. 



174 BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 

IV. Periodical literature — Concluded. 
Reforrne sociale — Concluded. 

Haj'em, Julieu. L'industrie de la lingerie dans le centre de la France. 
November 1, 1909. Vol. 58, p. 529. 
Revue politique et parlementaire — 

Milhaud, Caroline. Enquete but le travail a domicile dans la lingerie. 30 
aout 1908. Vol. 57, p. 366. 
Historical — 

Lespinasse, Rene de. Histoire generale de Paris. Lea metiers et cor- 
porations de la ville de Paris. Vol. III. XIV-XVIII siecle tissus, 
etoffes, vetementa, etc. 
Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul. Le travail des femmes au XIX e siecle. Paris, 

1873. 
Levasseur, Pierre E. Histoire des classes ouvrieres en France depuis la 
conquete de Jules Cesar jusqu'a la Revolution. Paris, 1859. 

Histoire dea classes ouvrieres et de l'industrie en France avant 1789. 

Paris, 1900-1. 
General works giving some attention to sewing trades — 
■ Gonnard, R. La femme dans l'industrie. Paris, 1906. 
Haussonville, Comte de. Salaires et miseres des femmes. Fourth edition. 

Paris, 1900. 
Jay, Marthe. Le travail de nuit des femmes dans l'industrie francaise. 

190S. 
Poisson, Charles. Le salaire des femmes. Saumur, 1906. 
Simon, Jules F. L'ouvriere. Paris, 1861. 

Weyl, Claude. La reglementation du travail des femmes dans l'industrie. 
(Loi du 2 novembre 1S92.) Paris, 1898. 
Popular treatises — 

Dagan, Henri. La femme ouvriere. 1902. 
Milhaud, Caroline. L'ouvriere en France. Paris, 1907. 
Annales des Sciences Politiques — 

Alfassa, Georges. La crise de l'apprentissage (July, 1905). Vol. XX, p. 421. 
Allix, Edgard. L'industrie a domicile salariee (1904). Vol. XIX, p. 469. 
Economiste francaise — 

Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul. L'outillage et l'avenir de la petite industrie. 4 

mars 1905. 
Payen, editor. Reglamentation du travail. (La Restriction. 1910, lea 
Veillees.) 26 Fevriere, 1910. 
Revue de Paris — 

Alfassa, Georges. Le travail dc nuit des femmes. (15 septembre 1904.) 
Vol. V, p. 367. 

Germany. 

I. Schriften des Vereins fur Suzialpolitik. 

Benda, Luise von. Die Entwicklung der Berliner Damenmasschneiderei. 

Vol. 85, pp. 53-69. (1899.) 
Dyhrenfurth, Gertrud. Die weibliche Heimarbeit. Jahrbuch fiir National- 

okonomie und Statistik. 3d series, Vol. 29, January, 1905. Also conducted 

an investigation in 1902 on the needleworkers in "Konfektion" in Berlin. 
Heiss, CI., und A. Koppel. Heimarbeit und Hausindustrie in Deutschland, 

ihre Lohn und Arbeitaverkaltnisse. 1906. 
Jaffe, E. Hausindustrie und Heimarbeit in Deutschland und Oesterreieh. 

Vol. 86. (1899.) 
Lipszyr, Marie A. Die Betriebsformen der Berliner Damenmasschneiderei. 

Vol. 85. pp. 71-S7. (1899.) 



DRESSMAKING AS A TRADE FOE WOMEN IX MASSACHUSETTS. 175 

I. Schriften des Vereins fur Sozialpolitik — Concluded. 

Mayer, Gustav. Konfektion und Schneidergewerbe in Prenzlau. Vol. 65, 

pp. 119-144. (1895.) 
Weber, Alfred. Die Entwicklungsgrundlagen der grossstadtischen Frauenhaus- 

industrie. Vol. 85. (1899.) 

II. Treatises. 

Bauer, Professor Dr. Stephan. Die gewerbliche Nachtarbeit der Frauen. 

Jena, 1903. 
Held, Jean. La reglamentation de la journee de travail des femmes dana 

l'industrie allemande. Paris, 1907. 

Belgium. 

Government publications. 

. Office du Travail. Los industries a domicile en Belgique. 7 vols. Brussels, 
1899-1905. 



INDEX. 



A. 

Page. 

Adrift, and living at home, proport ion of workers classified as 79 

Age: 

At beginning work 71 

At time of entering the trade 156 

Wages, classified weekly, and 130, 137 

B. 

Boston and Worcester: 

Specialization stage, shops of, maximum weekly wages of waist, skirt, and sleeve drapers in 40 

Specialization stage, shops of, size of working force in 38 

Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Somerville, and Worcester: 

Commercialized shops, number and per cent of 31 

Custom dressmaking, extent of 27 

Dressmakers, types of 28 

Dressmaking shops, number and type of, by length of working year 92 

Private dressmakers, number and per cent of 31 

Private dressmakers, size of working force 32 

Specialization stage, shops of, number and per cent of 31 

Transition stage, shops of, maximum weekly wages of skirt and waist drapers in 36 

Transit ion stage, shops of, number and per cent of 31 

Transition stage, shops of, size of working force 35 

Boston, custom shops and manufacturing shops in: 

Children, women, and men, number employed , 128 

Children, women, and men, wages of 129 

Fall and spring seasons, dates of opening and closing 100 

Midwinter lay off, number of weeks of 102 

Midwinter slack season, relation to unemployment 102 

Piecework, classified weekly wages of women on 130 

Stability of labor force 99 

Workers employed in, average number 87, 89 

Business administration in the trade 53, 04 

C. 

Capital, problem of, in the trade 54-t>4 

Casual labor, extent of, in custom and factory dressmaking 106 

Children, women, and men in: 

Custom shops and manufacturing shops, classified weekly wages paid, Boston 129 

Custom shops and manufacturing shops, number employed and wages paid, United States. ... 23, 127 

Custom shops and manufacturing shops, number employed, Boston 128 

Custom shops dressmaking, average number employed, by months, United States, 1900 93 

Commercial dressmaker, the .'. .' 42-49 

Commercialized shops: 

Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Somerville, and Worcester, number and per cent of 31 

Occupations and wages (1 shop) 44, 45 

Wages paid in, by size of force 45 

Working year, length of 91, 92 

Competition, problem of, in the trade 61-64 

Custom shops and manufacturing shops: 

Children, women, and men, number, wages, etc., of, in 127-129 

Employment in, classified number of weeks of 98 

Labor force, stability of, for 1 year, Boston 99 

Large and small shops, wages of women in 132 

Midwinter lay oil', number of weeks of, Boston 102 

Midwinter slack season, relation to unemployment, Boston 102 

Occupations and wages 67,134-136 

Spring and fall seasons, dates of opening and closing, Boston 1 00 

Wages of workers employed 25 or more weeks in 1 shop 1 40 

Wages, reduction of, caused by short absences 141 

Women working 40 weeks and over, classified annual earnings of 1 42 

Workers employed in, average number, by months, Boston 87 

Workers employed in, number of, by weeks, Boston 89 

Working year of employees in, Boston 95 

Custom shops: 

Absences, short, proportion of weeks not broken by 140 

Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Somerville, and Worcester, number, etc 27, 28 

Occupations and wages of nucleus force in : 67 

Vacation, summer, proportion, of workers who return after 105 

Wages, classified weekly, by occupation 134 

Workers employed in, average number of, Boston, 1910, and United States, 1900 85 

Workers employed in, number of, in different years, by weeks 96,97 

29885°— Bull. 193—16—12 177 



178 



INDEX. 



I). 



Dressmaking, evolution of the trade, United States 11-21 

Commercialized system 11,13 

Custom system 11,13,20 

Family system : 11, 12 

Help or hire system 11-13 

Manufacturing system 11,17 

Ready-made anci ready-to- wear garments, development of IS, 19 

Dressmaking trade of to-day 23-52 

Commercial dressmaker 42-49 

Family dressmaker 29 

Journeyman dressmaker 29, 30 

Manufacturing dressmaker 49-52 

Private dressmaker 31-33 

Specialized workers, dressmaker of the shop of 37-42 

Transition stage, dressmaker of 33-37 

E. 

Earnings and wages in Boston 127-146 

Earnings. (See also Wages.) 

Employees. (See Workers in the dressmaking trade. ) 

Employments, secondary, reported by workers 144 

Experience or number of years in the trade, workers classified by 110 

Experience, relation of, to weekly wages * 138 

F. 

Factory product, women's clothing, development of the trade, United States, 1890-1900 and 1899-1909 . 23, 24 

Fall and spring seasons, dates of opening and closing, Boston 100 

Family dressmaker, the 29 

Family income, contributions to, extent of by workers living at home 78 

I. 

Income. (See Family income; Earnings; Wages.) 

Industrial conditions in the trade • 53-81 

Business administration 53, 54 

Capital, problem of 54-61 

Competition, problem of 61-64 

Labor force 64-81 

Unions, attitude of workers toward 79-81 

Irregularity of employment 83-111 

Weelcs of 6 days each, proportion of, worked 139 

Weeks not broken by short absences, proportion of 140 

J. 

Journeyman dressmaker, the 29, 30 

L. 

Labor force 64-81 

Labor force, instability of 100-111 

Lay off, midwinter, number of weeks of, Boston 102 

List of books, records, and periodicals dealing with women in the clothing trade 167-175 

Living conditions of 200 workers visited 77 

Lowell. (See Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Somerville and Worcester.) 

M. 

Manufacturing shops and custom shops: 

Children, women, and men, number, wages, etc., of , in 127-129 

Employment in, classified number of weeks of 98 

Labor force, stability of, for 1 year, Boston 99 

Large and smallshops, wages of women in 132 

Midwinter lay off, number of weeks of, Boston 102 

Midwinter slack season, relation to unemployment, Boston 102 

Occupation and wages 67, 134-136 

Spring and fallseasons, dates of opening and closing, Boston 100 

Wages of workers employed 25 or more weeks in 1 shop 140 

Wages, reduction of, caused by short absences 141 

Women working 40 weeks and over, classified annual earnings of 142 

Workers employed in, average number, by months, Boston. 87 

Workers employed in, number of, by weeks, Boston 89 

Working year of employees in, Boston 95 

Manufacturing shops, classified weekly wages and occupations in 135, 136 

Married women, proportion of, in custom shops and manufacturing shops 78 

N. 
Nationality, a factor in advancement 75 



INDEX. 179 

O. 

Occupations and wages: Page. 

Commercialized shops 44, 45 

Custom shops 67 134 

Manufacturing shops ............... 135' 136 

Specialization stage, shops of ... ....[.... .. 38 39 

Transition stage, shops of " ..'. 34' 35 

Workers employed 39 or more weeks in 1 shop 13<j 

Occupations. (See also Secondary employments. ) 

Overtime ." 113-126 

Causes of, primary Hi 

Hours of, in a large shop, two consecutive years . 1 19 120 

Hours of, in a large shop, 1909-10 and 1910-11 (Chart C) ' 121 

Hours of, in 1 shop, in a week of maximum overtime, 1909 118 

Pay for, rate of 123 

P. 

Piecework, wages of women on, Boston 130 

Positions, methods of securing 65 

Positions, reasons given for leaving 107 

Previous employment of women 72 

Private dressmaker, the 31-33 

Private dressmakers, shops of, number of, and size of working force, in 5 citias 31, 32 

Private dressmakers, shops of, length of working year 91,92 

K. 

liealy-made and ready-to-wear garments, development of 18-20 

S. 

Schooling of 200 workers in the dressmaking trade : 74 

Scope of present study 8,9 

Season , the workers' 93-106 

Seasons in the trade 83-93 

Slack season, midwinter, relation to unemployment, Boston 102 

Somerville. (See Boston, Cambridge, Lowell' Somerville, and Worcester.) 
Specialization stage, shops of: 

Boston and Worcester, size of working force in 38 

Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Somerville, and Worcester, number in 31 

Occupations and wages 38, 39 

Working year in 9 1 , 92 

Wages of waist, skirt, and sleeve drapers, Boston and Worcester 40 

Specialized workers, the dressmaker of the shop of 37-42 

Spring and fall seasons, dates of opening and closing, Boston 100 

T. 

Teaching the trade 147-159 

Tr m -it ion stage, shops of: 

Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Somerville, and Worcester, number in 31 

Occupations and wages 34. 35 

Wages, maximum weekly, of skirt and waist drapers, Boston and smaller cities 36 

Working force, size of, in 5 cities 35 

Working year, length of 91, 92 

Transition stage, the dressmaker of the 33-37 

U. 

Unions, attitude toward, of women workers 79 

V. 

ion, midsummer, proportion of workers returning in the fall after 105 

W. 

Wages: 

Actual average and nominal, of workers employed 25 weeks or more in 1 shop 1 10 

Annual, of women working 40 weeks and over 142, 143 

Children, men, and women in custom shops and manufacturing shops 127, 129 

Class of $7, 18, and 89 per week, time required to reach 157 

Earnings and, in Boston 127-146 

Experience, relation of wages to 138 

Occupations and, in commercialized shops 44, 45 

Occupations and, in custom shops 67, 134 

Occupations and , in manufacturing shops 135! 136 

Occupations and, in shops of specialization stage 38-40 

Occupations and, in shops of transition stage 34-36 

Occupations, etc. , and, of workers employed 39 or more weeks in 1 shop 139 

Paid and owed a $10 draper in a specified* shop 60 61 

Piecework, of women on, Boston 130 

Reduction, percentage of. caused by short absences 141 

Women in large and small shops 132 

Workers earning less than $8 per week, proportion of , in large and small shops ... 1 33 



180 INDEX. 

Workers in the dressmaking trade: 1'age. 

Adrift and living at. home, proportion of, classified as 79 

Age, and classified weekly wages 136, 137 

Age at beginning work 71 

Age at time of entering the trade 156 

Custom shops, fluctuation of working force, by months (Charts A and B) 86, 87 

Employment, number of weeks of, custom shops and manufacturing shops 98, 100 

Experience or number of years in the trade of, and number of shops employed in 110 

Experience, relation of, to weekly wages 138 

Factory workers classified, weekly wages of, by occupations 135, 13tS 

Family income, contributions to, extent of, by workers living at home : 78 

Layoff, midwinter, number of weeks of, Boston 102 

Living condil ions of 200 visited 77 

Married women, proportion of, in custom shops and manufacturing shops 78 

Overtime, hours of 11S-120 

Overtime in a large shop, specified years (Chart C) 121 

Pieceworkers, classified weekly wages of, in 2 manufacturing shops, Boston 130 

Positions, methods of securing 65 

Positions, reasons given for leaving 107 

Previous employment of women in 72 

Schooling of 200 workers 74 

Seasons, spring and fall, dates of opening and closing, Boston 100 

Secondary employments 144 

Unions , attitude toward 79 

Vacation, midsummer, proportion of workers returning in the fall after 105 

Working season, in different years 98 

Working year, number of weeks in 95 

o 



VITA 

The author was born in Macon, Illinois, on August 6, 1880. 
She graduated from the Decatur (111.) High School in 1897, 
attended the Illinois State Normal School in 1898, and taught 
in Oak Park from 1 899-1903. In the fall of 1903 she entered 
the University of Illinois, receiving the degree of A. B. in 1906, 
A. M. in 1907, and holding a graduate fellowship in history 
during the year 1907— 8. During the year 1908—9, she attended 
Columbia University, holding the Curtis Scholarship in History. 
In the fall of 1909 she entered the Department of Research of 
the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston, on a 
fellowship. During 191c— 11, she was Assistant Director and 
during 191 1 — 12 Associate Director of the Department. The 
year 191 2— 13 was spent in Europe and the two following years, 
191 3—19 1 5 , as Associate Director in the Department of 
Research, Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston, 
Mass. During the first year she was also Instructor in Eco- 
nomics at Simmons College. The year I9i5-i6was spent in 
graduate study at Columbia University, completing the require- 
ments in the Department of Social Economy for the degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy. During this year she attended the sem- 
inar in Social Economy and Social Legislation under Professors 
Devine and Lindsay, making an intensive study into the health 
of women workers. During residence at Columbia she worked 
under Professors Lindsay, Devine, Seager, Simkovitch, Chad- 
dock, Osgood, Shepherd, Robinson, Giddings, and Hollingworth. 

As a fellow in the Department of Research, the stud}' of 
Worn at in the Dressmaking Trade in Massachusetts was under- 
taken in connection with the efforts of Boston educators to 
better understand and meet the problems of industrial educa- 
tion. During the three years as Associate Director of the 
Department, four similar investigations were conducted. A 
preliminary survey of Worcester, Cambridge and Somerville 




VITA 

was made for the Massachusetts State Board of Education. 
The Worcester study was published in 191 3 as Bulletin Number 
17 of the United States Bureau of Education under the title of 
A Trade School for Girls : A Preliminary Investigation in a 
Typical Manufacturing City, Worcester, Mass. The Public 
Schools and Women in Office Service was published in 1914 by 
the Boston School Committee. The Boot and Shoe Industry in 
Massachusetts as a Vocation for Women was published in 191 5 
by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics as Bulletin 
Number 180. The final study, Industrial Efficiency of Girls 
Trained in Massachusetts Trade Schools was made for the 
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics to be published as a 
Bulletin of the Bureau. 






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